“You should’ve seen it in color” – Picture 8

Picture 8

The obvious:
This is a picture of me and my beautiful Grandma in March of 1994. I am 10 years old.

What you can’t see:
We are at Beef & Boards, a dinner theater in Indianapolis. My grandparents took us to many shows there when I was growing up. The musical we are watching here is “The Fiddler on the Roof.”

At this theater, they build a dinner buffet on the stage when you arrive and then dismiss groups of people by table to get food. (They have very good prime rib and ham!) After everyone is done eating dinner, the staff breaks down the buffet and builds up the musical’s set. Then the waiters come around and take your dessert order, to be served either immediately or during the show’s intermission. We always selected the intermission for our desserts and kiddie cocktails for drinks. I always ordered some type of chocolately pie. Mmm chocolate.

How this picture makes me feel:
Happy. I always enjoyed going to watch musicals at this theater with my grandparents. My sisters and I love to sing songs from movies and musicals, and I don’t doubt part of that is due to our early/frequent exposure to musicals like this one.

This picture also makes me miss my Grandma and Grandpa. My Grandma is one of the most warm, loving people I know. Her hugs are so comforting and her clothes always smell like Tide. I wash my clothes in Tide, but they never manage to hold on to the scent like hers do. As a kid I would love spending the night there because she would wash the clothes I wore the previous day while I was asleep and they would smell like her the next time I wore them. She would also play store with us for hours using food out of her pantry and Monopoly money.

I have really great memories with my Grandpa, too. Playing the organ, playing games on the computer, climbing on the roof of the house while he made repairs, woodworking – I could go on for days. One of my favorite memories with him is sitting in the living room eating ice cream out of a strawberry shaped glass bowl and watching Star Trek.

I saw my grandparents this past weekend at my Dad’s surprise 50th birthday party and at brunch to celebrate 3 birthdays (Dad, Grandpa, sister) the following day. I had lots of fun talking with them, and I wish our visits could be more frequent. Being away from them (and the rest of my fam) is definitely the hardest part about living 4 hours away.

*Title of the post is a line from “In Color” by Jamey Johnson. Buy it here!