triple speedee smooth
i was thirteen when my grandma died. i remember huddling with our smallish family in her apartment, trying to pretend we knew what to say. (we didn't.) it was weird. we're not a close family, and yet there we were, in close proximity, trying to relate.
so i left them to their dysfunctional devices and snuck off to the bathroom. i can still picture the criss-cross faux-rattan wallpaper, her old half-finished crossword puzzle book, the sliding-glass shower door that never completely closed. making sure no one was looking, i opened up the medicine cabinet and picked up my favorite thing in her apartment -- her old nail file. every time i visited her i had to look at it, marveling at its cool, warped metal; the hokey old-school logo; the word "speedee."
nobody noticed when i slipped it in my pocket.
Comments and faves
DottieboBottie added this photo to her favorites. (65 months ago)
Auntie P (65 months ago | reply)
Thief!
I used to adore old things like this in my grandparents' homes. I'm glad you've got it, it's wonderful.
oliwkowygaj (65 months ago | reply)
i had very simislar situation... it's my favorite ring ever...
great photo. i love that contrast!
AmUnivers added this photo to her favorites. (65 months ago)
AmUnivers (65 months ago | reply)
The photo is great. And it is fantastic that you still have this nale file .. what a memory !
Dappers (65 months ago | reply)
Thinks it's much better to take your grandma's beautiful nail file like this, than to steal a hepcats crossing sign in broad daylight... ;-)
Friendly Joe (65 months ago | reply)
Another Most Excellent story.
And congratulations! Between the color, texture and tags, you've scored a Whore Hat Trick!!
Friendly Joe added this photo to their favorites. (65 months ago)
Foxglove (65 months ago | reply)
I still have an old dented (and totally useless) cigarette case:
carried it for years: it might save my life one day as it alway lies within an inner breast pocket
debaird™ added this photo to his favorites. (65 months ago)
stevewilliamsphotos (65 months ago | reply)
Very cool memory. Glad you got it! Funny how some people fight over relatives belongings and the real "good" stuff is the little things like this.
regularjoe (65 months ago | reply)
I can totally relate to this. I have a few little things like this (zippo, tape measures, pocket knives) and I cherish them so, so, much...
Ed Karjala added this photo to his favorites. (65 months ago)
Ed Karjala (65 months ago | reply)
Shiny and worn and perfect. Love that green surface. You have sparked a similar memory for me having to do with a 3/8" ratchet I got after my grandfather passed away. Thanks.
ILIGHT (65 months ago | reply)
You rock, JKonig! Totally can relate.
hedgiecc (65 months ago | reply)
These lttle things are the best memories.
mosaiq added this photo to her favorites. (65 months ago)
Gwyn Michael (65 months ago | reply)
Oh my I've got goose bumps...my grandfathers nite stand uh huh.
This is wonderful Jen! You tell the best stories you know... Thanks for sharing.
Auntie P (65 months ago | reply)
I have a few items which bring memories of childhood rushing back and I was lucky that my grandfather held on to a few of them when he moved into a home. My mother didn't understand why I wanted to keep them, so I'm glad she didn't want them too!
A folding wooden ruler, an old shoe horn and a 'police' whistle (which I have on my keyring).
--
Seen in my recent comments. (?)</e
jimmah_v (65 months ago | reply)
Memory feeds imagination. -- Amy Tan
your family images and narrative are so very good, each is a treasure and in the aggregate they are an invaluable gift for us all
_
SF buckaroo (65 months ago | reply)
honey, man can I relate.
not a close family-- check.
grandparents bathroom-- check.
sentimentalizing items other people would throw away-- check.
14-- it was an interesting year. grandma went to see a play in los angeles. i had dinner with my aunt and mother at grandparent's house that night. grandpa was supposed to join us but he did not feel well. while we were eating dinner in the dining room (leisure world, laguna hills, ca) grandpa called out from the master bedroom. he was having difficulty breathing. i went in to help him-- "i don't think I'm going to make it" he told me & I assured him he would. then he told me he needed help using the toilet, and I helped him there. the last thing he did was ask for toilet paper.
meanwhile mom called the paramedics... one of the guys was a (gorgeous) high school classmate of mine... I followed them to the ambulance... grandpa was in intensive care on a ventilator for 17 days before grandma pulled the plug... she always felt guilty keeping him in there like that.
i'll never forget that night in the emergency waiting room with mom, crying her eyes out. and the visit to grandpa, on the ventilator, when he looked me in the eyes and squeezed my hand.
if I could have slipped anything in my pocket, it would have been his doctor's bag. like a shaving kit but with all the things a GP would need. I don't know where it is now. or if it exists.
grandma died about ten years later after slowly declining from alzheimers. aunt mike still lives in the condo... and I have absolutely zero contact with her.
SF buckaroo added this photo to his favorites. (65 months ago)
Esther17 (65 months ago | reply)
this and all the relating stories are really wonderful. makes me wish i had saved something of my abuela's so, so long ago.
Esther17 added this photo to their favorites. (65 months ago)
Darren C. (65 months ago | reply)
Great story and great photo -- and I love that green. By the way, remind us to never invite you over the house. I'm just sayin'. :)
McMexicano added this photo to his favorites. (65 months ago)
McMexicano (65 months ago | reply)
great green...
raelnyc (65 months ago | reply)
The green is unbelievable and the old logo design is quite neat, as is the story. It's kind of funny, because a recent post by a friend was of a tin with a reddish leaf design. He related the story of why the tin was special. When he visited his grandparents as a child, he would steal away to their room and open the tin to play with buttons of all kinds. That was his joy and it was discouraged by them. His grandparents were a tailor and a seamstress, accounting for all the buttons.
nolando (65 months ago | reply)
beautiful image and a soul-bearing story - a JKonig happy meal
Bernat_83 added this photo to his favorites. (65 months ago)
Bernat_83 (65 months ago | reply)
The green, the DoF, that design and typo... love it!
Crystl added this photo to her favorites. (63 months ago)
getthebubbles (63 months ago | reply)
great story.
amazingranda added this photo to her favorites. (19 months ago)