The Family Room in My Grandmother's House

It is a very large space, ideal for family gatherings - Christmas and such.  As you enter from the kitchen, you can feel this enormity.  It stretches down the entire back half of the house, but is not very wide, almost a long corridor.  It's a minefield of toys that the little cousins leave, so watch your step!  Along the right facing wall, there is a small, almost unnoticeable rocking chair.  It's old, so very old - my great-grandmother's I think.  No one ever sits in it, it's that old and fragile.  There is a table further on that houses one of the many lamps and a plethora of magazines and baskets full of more magazines.  My grandparents never threw anything away.  There is a set of coasters here with a map and depiction of east-coast lighthouses.    Beside this table is the main couch.  This is the place where I would read in the early hours of the morning.  The place where we'd squeeze as many relatives as possible onto it.  The man couch from where we'd watch the NBA, the NFL, Wimbledon, or whatever sport happened to be on.  At the foot is a bench full of even more magazines.  The latest Reader's Digest (and usually the one from last month as well).  They all quickly find their way to the floor once everyone arrives and desires to put their feet up.  Across the way, a brief journey as the baby crawls, is the fireplace.  It's electric and has a large grill just in case any of the young ones get any ideas.  There is a carpet along most of the floor except for right around the fire place which is a very smooth stone.  The mantle above is square and rather sharp, so again, be careful - I think it has taken out at least one person before.  Above that is a still-life painting - fruit I believe.  They repainted a few years ago, and now it's much more gentle.  To either side, on the entire left wall in fact, are book shelves.  Enormous books shelves.  There are large volumes of history and theology, Clive Cussler novels, and incredibly old looking books with titles that have faded.  There lovely odor of knowledge and wisdom permeates the entire room.  Below the far book shelf is the TV, still an older Cathode Ray Tube version - big and bulky.  But, it works.  We have watched every Barbie movie known to man from that TV - the curse of having little girl cousins.  On one of the shelfs is the folded U.S. of A. flag from my Grandfather's funeral this past June.  It is both emotional and awe-inspiring every time I see it.  Along the outer walls, other than the bookshelf, are the big windows that lend to the heat in a late afternoon Virginia summer.  It's stifling.  But beautiful.  The sun comes in towards evening and gives everything an ethereal orange glow, the rays are tangible.  Along the back wall of the house is an island of chairs and sofas that seem to blend in with the cream color of the room.  This is the girl cousins' realm during Christmas.  We don't usually go over there unless we absolutely have to.  Coming back up is my Grandfather's favorite chair, the most comfortable chair in the house and where he would normally spend his days during the end.  Next to that is a standing lamp and a table with another lamp on the other side - we can never have enough light!  This also has more books and magazines and the drawer holds the remotes for the TV, DVD player, etc.  And then there's the main couch again.  The furnishings on either side wrap a corridor of open space for play or for sitting.  A corridor of memory.

Will Potter