Why My Fridge Always Has Sodas

Growing up, I had the luxury of having most of my grandparents in my life, plus a bonus grandmother. Both of my parents' parents were alive throughout my childhood, albeit both sets had divorced. My paternal grandfather though was not a part of my life. The first time I laid eyes on the man was at his funeral. There was something of a contentious relationship between he and my dad and that relationship meant that he was not welcomed in our lives. On the flip side, my maternal grandfather had remarried a wonderful woman and me, my brother, and our cousins spent a significant amount of time with them in our younger years. Both of my grandmothers were single for as long as I knew them. One of them dated but never married.

Of the three grandparents I saw, I spent a fair amount of time with all of them but my maternal grandfather and step-grandmother were the ones I enjoyed spending time with most. My maternal grandmother only had daughters and my brother was the "good child" when we were young. I, on the other hand, brought a level of energy and chaos that flummoxed her. I was difficult to entertain because I couldn't be bothered to sit still or be quiet. Likewise, my paternal grandmother found me difficult, despite her raising four rather rambunctious boys from the stories of my father.

However, my mom's father and step-mother were both easy-going people who allowed me to be me a bit more. Of course, they were also better equipped to deal with me. Their house in town had an extra television in one of the spare rooms so I could watch cartoons or whatever without disturbing them. They had a lake house at a lake not far outside of town that we spent much of our summers at. While there, we water skied/tubed behind my grandfather's boat, rode go-karts, 4-wheelers, golf carts, and a moped. My step-grandmother's daughter had children that were close in age to me and my brother so we had people to hang out with while there and several of the families that had lake houses nearby also had children or grandchildren close to our age. Many of my most memorable recollections of my childhood took place at or around that lake house with my friends and family there. We celebrated nearly every 4th of July at the lake with a big party and loads of fireworks. We would spend weeks at a time there with our grandparents and cousins during our summer breaks from school. That was our place of celebration, relaxation, and frivolity.

But regardless of where we stayed with that set of grandparents, the lake house or their house in town, they always kept a supply of sodas for all of us to drink. There were always Dr. Peppers and Cokes for me and my brother. Pepsi for our cousins. And then there was also a ready supply of 7-Up and/or Sprite for when one of us were feeling ill. Their house in town had a nice patio on the back of the house that was framed in. Back there my grandfather kept a mini-fridge and that was where our sodas were stashed. At the lake house, our grandfather always took special care to stock the main fridge in the house with our drinks. We weren't allowed to go hog wild consuming them but there was little in the way of real restrictions too.

After we all grew up and went on to get married and start our own families, hints of the influences from our childhood were found in our homes. I think all of us kept sodas around the house for us and our children to consume. Even now, my office has a mini-fridge in it that has never seen a day without sodas on its shelves. I'll admit, it does get low from time to time but I always manage to keep something in it. My kids (and nephews) know that they can come here and find something sweet and sugary.

I want my house to be the house of joyful memories for them like my grandparents' house was for me. I have so many memories of being on my grandfather's pontoon boat, such much so that my wife and I bought 2 pontoon boats so that we can take our kids and grandkids out on the lake like my grandparents did for us. We have an annual fireworks party (burn ban permitting) where we invite our entire families and anyone who wants to come, just like my grandparents did. We have big family get togethers at our house for most major holidays, just like my Paw Paw and Granny.

My house will always have drinks for my kids and grandkids. I have a lot of great memories from spending time with my grandparents. I want to foster that same level of gratification and pleasure in the lives of my kids and grandkids, even if that means emulating my Paw Paw and Granny, although I can't see how emulating two of the nicest people to ever live could be a bad thing for any of us.