Reminisce

While Ethan knew he was, ostensibly, a city boy, to say he was raised there and there alone would leave out some of the most formative times of his life.

Summers with Grandma and Grandpa were a staple for nearly fourteen years, from the time he could walk until the time his summers were spent working. Green Valley was a home away from home for him, a world apart from the noise pollution of his real residence, and a place of true respite. While part of the reason for the yearly shipping out was to get some ‘fresh air’, truthfully Ethan’s very professionally-minded parents just didn't know what to do with him at home for nearly three months. Hence: Green Valley.

While the denizens of Green Valley would call their home a village, the term didn't quite capture how quaint it was. A few hundred people lived there, many of an older generation, but growing up there were enough other children around that Ethan didn't want for a playmate. Time blurred their faces and names, but the old feelings still managed to curl his lip into a small smile.

Even without those old playmates, he still had hours of fun with his grandparents. With them, he learned quite a few things his parents did not, or perhaps could not, teach. How to sew, fish, swim, not to mention the ins and outs of a number of card games few his age had even heard of. He spent a near year believing Euchre was just a made up game, until the internet proved otherwise. The rules, like the faces and names, were blurred.

Grandpa died years ago. The pain of that loss still sat heavy in Ethan’s chest. The funeral was held not too far from here, and up until a few days ago it was the last time he was even close to Green Valley. Ethan stewed on that. The last summer here he was sixteen. Grandpa taught him how to drive in his truck. The next year Ethan was working, saving for university, for all the good that did. He would have rather had one more summer in that truck…

Grandma couldn't take care of the house by herself. She moved in with her sister a few towns over. Ethan had seen her a few times since Grandpa passed, but… Ethan sighed. He should have called more at least.

Grandma passed a few scant weeks ago. Buried next to Grandpa, not far from here. Despite all the shortage of calls, Grandma left Ethan something he assumed long since sold. But then again, who would want to buy a house so far from anything and everything? Ethan fought with that question for a moment.

Somebody with nothing, he supposed.