Pergola

Winter, 1984, I wore a red puffy dress, white patent leather shoes and white itchy tights. My blond hair was turning a brown shade. The strands were fine, soft, and cropped to the bottom of my ears. There were three steps you had to descend to reach the lower level of the family room. White shag carpeting coated the steps and floor. I stood in the hallway, trying to work my way down the steps. My buggy little legs were too small to step naturally down them like the adults. I squatted on the top step and pushed my leg down the fluffy white carpet. There was a flash. Mom took a picture. I pushed my other leg down the step and sat on my bottom. I scooted down the steps, one by one. I was three.

I loved the white shag. It was pretty against the green Christmas tree that stood by the window. Presents overflowed the bottom of the tree. I sat on the shag while my family looked merry around the tree. I laced my fingers around the long bits of carpet. The soft material was heaven to the touch.

All I remembered that Christmas day at Grandma and Grandpa’s house was the carpet. Sitting on the carpet was insignificant, but it was the only strong memory I held of the first Christmas I remembered.

In 1995 the shag carpet was replaced. Blond wood floors with copper moldings stretched across the family and living rooms and the kitchen. Grams was so excited about the change. She stood in the kitchen looking at Mom and me sitting on the couch in the living room telling us all about it.

Another addition was added to the house. French doors replaced sliding glass doors. The above ground pool was gone. A gray pergola was added to the back of the house. Large windows enclosed the deck. Grams gave us a tour of the new addition. She exclaimed with excitement that this was her favorite room to sit in. A 70’s style orange flowered couch was up against the wall with knitted pillows tossed onto it. That was where she sat and read. She explained how the sun came through the windows to warm her.

Even though the pergola wasn’t built very well, I still had an attachment to it. The room was filled with Grams’ love and enjoyment. I liked walking into the kitchen and seeing her through the windows of the French doors sitting on the couch with her two cockapoos on either side of her dranking coffee from the mug with apples on it.

I missed the shag carpeting though.