While flipping through the TV channels tonight I saw a man who reminded me of my Grandpa Charlie.

Both of my grandfathers were named Charlie, and I’m remembering the one who called me Bar-bree-Ann when I was eight or nine years old.

He’s also the grandpa who woke up early just like me and Momma after we got to his house in Missouri early that morning. That’s when he had me stand next to him so he could show me something.

That something was their new “smart” stove to heat up the house.

“Now listen, Barb-re-Ann. Be quiet,” he said. “Don’t giggle now, listen.” he’d whisper.

Soon there was a click. “Did you hear it? It came on all by itself,” he said.

I remember standing next to his wheelchair for a long time, and watching Grandpa get excited each time we heard a click. So I’d clap and jump up and down when it came on. Then Momma came in from the kitchen to see what was going on.

She’d been trying to make breakfast on Grandma’s “old wood cook stove” cause Grandma fell and broke her hip, and was in the hospital.

My Uncle Clyde had hired “A Girl” to come and take care of Grandpa during the day, and a neighbor man helped Grandpa get in bed at night.

Next thing I knew that Girl was screaming and running through the house yelling there was a bear in the bedroom.

It turned out it was just my Daddy snoring, and that Girl’s yelling sure woke him up.

We’d picked up Daddy at work from The Daily Oklahoman at midnight, and made good time, and got to Missouri by 6 or 7 that morning.

After the screaming incident Daddy got up, and then made one of his famous trips to see “Miss Jones.”

It was years before I found out that was his code that he was going to the outhouse.

On our trips to Missouri Daddy always had me to sit up front cause I’d keep him awake with my talking. He’d also test me on my addition, and times tables.

My sister was seven years older than me so she’d sit in the back set with Momma, and always slept on those night trips.

We usually drove back to Oklahoma City in the daytime, and that’s when we’d get to stop at a cafe to eat. That was a treat, but it also meant we’d need to stop later on the roadside to use the bathroom.

Back in the early 1950s there weren’t any McDonald’s or Sonics and not many gas stations or cafes on the highways the way they are now. That’s when we stopped by the side of the road. Our car was a twodoor which meant we could squat behind an open door, and someone would stand on the other side to block the one who had to go.

My sister loved to wait until I was going then would move so when a car was coming she’d yell: “They can see you!”

That caused me to scream, which was why she did it.

It just dawned on me that all of our summer vacations were those 400 mile trips to Missouri to see Momma and Daddy’s parents, and for them to go back to their hometown.

Oklahoma City was where I was born and lived many years, but living in Hennessey these past 47 years have made it my hometown.