On Friday, after mom got off work, we headed five hours west to the great state of Indiana to visit my grandma, aunt and cousins. The plan was to check into the local Best Western in Gas City (not kidding, that’s the name of the town) and hang out.
So we drove over the hills, through the woods to grandma’s house out in the boonies of rural Indiana. It was actually a pretty drive. The light dusting of snow over the hills made it stunning. It’s amazing how many different kinds of barn construction there are, some are red with regular roofs, others are white with six point barn roofs, others are stone and round. Unfortunately my camera batteries were dead and I couldn’t get any photos of the sun setting down through the trees glistening over the snow.
Finally we arrived and grandma was waiting with my favorite soup from childhood, brownies and diet pepsi. It was a fantastic homecoming. It was so good to see her, the last time was when she was visiting my Uncle up in San Francisco last April.
My grandma and I are kindred spirits. She’s a hoot, very creative, sarcastic and incredibly strong. I love spending time with her. We talked about music, art, boys, movies, religion, politics and anything else that strikes our fancy. Her favorite musicians right now are: Madeleine Poyreaux, Ed Anderson and Corinne Bailey Rae.
My aunt didn’t join us until Saturday afternoon. While we were waiting for her we drove to the nearby Fairmount, IN, home of James Dean. We had to stop into the local James Dean gallery. It was creepy. Located in someone’s home it was full of all things James Dean and retro 50s. You could find a myriad of plastic dishes, hollywood biographies, Dean movies, calendars, books, etc. I wonder if we were the first visitors in a while. The town itself looked like it was stuck in time. The library was in someone’s home, the diner downtown was still open and there was only one stoplight. I’d go nuts in a down like that. It was fascinating to visit and when my aunt called to say she was close I was glad to leave.
She came with her two girls and we had such a good afternoon of yakking, reminiscing, teasing each other and eagerly planning our next weekend. My grandmother wants to take us to Southern Indiana where she grew up. One of her friends in high school was none other than Florence Henderson, so that should be enlightening as well. These moments are the reason I moved back. I’m so glad I was here!
Filed under: Living in Ohio, Mi Familia





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