While my Opa was sleeping
06 Mar 2009
Joe’s in Hampton, Va. for Phish’s first reunion concerts.
Me and the pug? We’re at my Oma and Opa’s place, enjoying an alternate weekend in Nokomis, Fla.
(Oma and Opa = German for Grandma and Grandpa.)
They live about an hour from me in a wooded mobile home park called The Royal Coachman – the quaintest retirement community on the Gulf Coast. And in my journalistic opinion, the best retirement community on the Gulf Coast.
PK will join me tomorrow for sun tannin’ by the Royal Coachman pool and home cooked German meals in Oma’s lanai. Until then, it’s just me and the pug sleeping on a pullout sofa, listening to the sound of clocks tick and motorcycles rev muffler-lessly into the night.
Oma told me a story tonight that I’ll share with you briefly before I fall asleep under these downy blankets.
It started first with Opa pinching his gray hair, which hangs in a kind of sparse dutch boy when it’s freshly cut.
“Gerhard,” Oma said. “The barber tuk a lot off dis time.”
“Ja. That is because I told him to,” said Opa. “Every time I go to him he schnibbles only a little around mein ears, so I have to come back two, tree veeks later. I told him to take it all off at vonce. I pay to get mein hair cut, so cut it mensch!”
Smiling, Oma reached around Opa’s head and touched the bristled ends of his hair. She asked if I remembered tiptoeing up to him as a little girl – my sisters and I – clipping plastic barrettes in his hair while he was sleeping.
I remembered it vaguely.
Opa, who has a hard time remembering most things, remembered it like it happened yesterday.
–
PS. Photo by R., a 23-year-old aspiring writer and “general bohemian gadabout” living in Sydney, Australia. For her flickr photostream click here.
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OH I wish I was with you at Oma’s -we could sip on cans of Sprite-eat German Chocolate then skip to the pool
AND-it things went really well we could peddle the bikes to Nacomis Grove for Orange Vanilla twist.
March 7th, 2009 at 9:47 amI love listening to their stories-have a great time!
Phish reunion shows = mind-blowing!
I’m glad you’re having a good time at Oma and Opa’s. Say hi to PK for me.
March 7th, 2009 at 10:52 amyou transcribe opa perfectly miss heidi!
i miss oma’s delicious german cookies she used to shove down our throats, while cackling over my “cheese legs”(in german, of course)
give them a hello for me!
March 8th, 2009 at 6:04 pmxoxo
Aww, what a sweet story
Thanks for the photo and blog love (even though it took me a good Aussie minute to work out what a barette was – here we call them hair clips!).
–xo.
March 8th, 2009 at 8:31 pmWhat a sweet story, and a wonderful memory for your Opa =)
I’m glad you had such a great time with your grandparents.
March 9th, 2009 at 3:48 pmThis reminds me of staying at my grandparent’s mobile home and all the clocks that would tick at night–that’s the best sound. And those blankets sure were downy!
March 9th, 2009 at 6:31 pmHello London!
So glad you commented! I have a soft spot in my heart for mobile home parks, so much so that when Joe and I looked at a house next door to one and the Realtor turned his nose to it, I was like, “But look how quaint these trailers are!”
When I write a novel it will be half set in a mobile home park.
March 9th, 2009 at 6:44 pmso sweet. Aren’t grandparent’s great? I love that they remember that story about you.
March 12th, 2009 at 7:18 amI didn’t know you have German relatives! Eric is German and I love how his grandparents still mix Spanish and German when they speak. “You could keep the old TV in the Teller oder in the spare room”. Love it!! (oh and the cookies…)
December 27th, 2009 at 12:55 pm