Grandparents' House: A Home Away From Home Essay

sat down at a piano, having never studied, with little exposure to piano music in her lifetime,

Teenagers and college students all over America participated in telephone booth stuffing, panty raids, and dance-a-thons. Telephone booth stuffing involved shoving as many people as possible into a telephone booth, the more the better. This fad reached to South Africa, where the record for most people in a telephone booth was set: 25 male students fit into a telephone booth at one time. Panty raids were also invented in the 1950’s when people (specifically men) would go into the opposite sex’s room and go through their drawers until finding a pair of underwear, which they would then take and parade around. It started as a mens’ activity, but women soon took their revenge and raided the mens’ rooms as well. Dance-a-thons were also popular in these 1950’s, where people would dance until exhaustion, and whoever danced longest won a monetary prize. Many dances were invented to be done during dance-a-thons, including the stroll, the lindy, the jive, the jimbo, and the mashed potato. The limbo was also invented during the 1950’s and is still popular

Do you see that chimney over there? See it? Do you see those flames? Over

Starting out, I was walking slowly down the freshly snow covered dirt lane in front of my cabin. As I was walking I could hear the crisp

Cool winds, softly touching cheeks with a subtle reminder of their power to caress from chill to cold.

I myself am very dedicated to music and I love to play the piano and learn and play all types of music. I remember when I was a little girl I would sneak out of classes and go to the music room where there was a piano and just play all of her music. For me, it was a way to get away from everything I was going through. Her music was deep and had meaning to every single word in the lyrics. To me, that was all I needed. I would do research on her and see what she would be doing and her interests and we were just interested in the same kinds of things. She was and always will be my biggest idols. When I was younger, I always longed to go to her concert and sit in the audience and just feel her music in me. By freshman year, I finally got tickets to see her and it was the most amazing experience ever. It meant so much to me that I was actually in tears while she was singing live and it felt so perfect. A few years later, my senior year, I went to go see her again. And this time it was an even better feeling. Her drive and determination to help anyone in her path is what touches me and makes me want to do the same things for my community and everyone around me.

Mrs. Thomas shares with me that her earliest childhood memory was at the age of 5 years old. She recalls the family installing a Baby Grand Piano, which they placed in the family’s living room, where each child in the home learned to play well. Most evenings after dinner the family would sing and play the piano, taking turns as a way of sharing family time, this was something the entire family enjoyed. She said she valued engaging in music with her family because she believed it provided a bond between each sibling and her mother. She recalls her life

Music has been a part of my life since the beginning. My Grandma Hammond, a music teacher, had me start right off into piano when I turned 7 years old. She has been my music teacher since then. I was taught all genres of music starting from classical to what is popular now. My favorite genres to learn were Jazz and Rock music pieces. I remember when I was the age of 12, I begged her to let me learn and play the song Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen for one of my music festivals. My Grandma disagreed at once about my idea because it was required of the piano students to play a classical piano piece. I was a good student and learned that festival piece, but little did she know I would also teach myself Bohemian Rhapsody and play it after my classical

In the car, on the way to this unknown place I sat in the back seat in

She was able to create perplexing pieces of work; by adding color shadow and lighting. Her flower paintings had lots of details; some thought that they were erotic.

The way we played the game is one kid stood up with his back against the playgrounds iron fence, and then the next guy would bend down and reach around and grab hold of his waist and tuck his head down to the side. Then the next guy would grab him by the waist and tuck his head down and so on until your whole team is assembled in a row, looking like a human centipede. This was called the “horse”. Now, the other team with

single-handedly taught herself to play the piano. So even as a child, she was incredibly musically

Everybody that came over to the house learned how to do a flip of some sort, so they would not be left out of the fun. It was a lot of competition, so sometimes I managed to win some of the contests‍.

     The poem Piano, by D. H. Lawrence describes his memories of childhood. Hearing a woman singing takes him to the time when his mother played piano on Sunday evenings. In the present, this woman is singing and playing the piano with great passion. However, the passionate music is not affecting him, because he can only think about his childhood rather than the beauty of the music that exists in his actual space.

As I approach the turn to my Grandmother's house, my stomach turns in the anticipation of the perfectly sweet peanut butter cookie smell that awaits. As my mother turn up the long narrow gravel road and parked the car in front of her house. I stepped outside and a chilly little breeze bites at my cheeks. I take a deep breath and the sweet smell of burning cedar enters my nose. I