Another Trip Down Memory Lane

I was lucky enough to have my great grandmother still alive and living close enough for regular visits when I was a kid. I loved going to Grandma Great's house. I remember looking at all the little knick-knacks displayed around the house, laying on the chaise longe in the little back room, playing in the back yard and checking out all the flowers in her gardens. But my favorite thing at Grandma Great's house was the rocking chair.

It was just an upholstered armchair on a spring so it would rock back and forth, but I loved sitting in it. I remember fighting with my brother over who got to sit in the chair - which was more than big enough for two, but we didn't want to share. When I got my turn, I would happily sit in that chair for ages just enjoying it. As long as I didn't turn my back on the basement door.

I was always scared of that basement. There was no good reason - it wasn't a dark and scary cellar. It was a nicely finished basement with spare bedrooms, carpeting, the whole deal. But I was always scared of it. My beloved chair sat right next to the basement door, so I always oriented myself so as to have a view of the door. Just to be safe.

It wasn't until years later that I figured out why I'd always been afraid of the basement. I went to a family funeral and my cousin Terry was speaking. And he talked about how Grandma Great always told all the kids that there were ghosts in her basement! It was her method of keeping kids from going down there and getting into things that were off limits. No wonder I'd always been afraid, Grandma Great told me it was haunted! It obviously worked on me - I NEVER went into that basement without Grandma Great!

Interesting side note (at least, interesting to me!), my cousin Terry said he was always getting into trouble for sneaking down into the basement. Apparently this was because he had always mis-heard Grandma Great. He thought there were GOATS in the basement and he desperately wanted to see them! =)