My Grandpa sat on his rocking chair next to the window. He was enjoying the cool Guyana breeze that extended its grasp from the Atlantic. From the outside, it looked like a prison because of the safety bars that were attached to the window ever since the house was built. But from inside it was a smaller version of heaven. I sat in the hammock across from my grandpa’s chair. I would sit there peacefully with my grandpa. If I was tired (which was almost never) I’d sit still. But if I was normal, the energy that you would get from an average six year would come out. I would push my feet off the old wooden floor and kick off the yellow wall, so I could swing higher each and every time I went up.

Grandpa and I would share laughs and jokes. He would tell me rhymes, stories and my favorites his memories. I would ask him tell the ones that he remembered the most. “Grandpa, Tell me the story! Tell me the story!” I would cautiously slow down the hammock and open my eager ears and anxiously wait for him to start and get to the end. Just so I could laugh until it felt like my stomach was shrinking. I enjoyed that story more that any toy I had or any story that I’ve heard.

To others it was just a story. It would cause a chuckle or a quick smile. Maybe some won’t give a reaction. But I know for me, it was the funniest thing in the world. I would laugh so hard sometimes, I‘d interrupt my mom from her cooking and she would yell at me. I would have to hear that story more than once a day. The peculiar thing was no matter how many times I’ve heard that story; I’d laugh just as hard as I did the first time. It was kind of like a private joke because my grandpa would laugh just as much as I would, each and every time.

I miss being in my old house, and I miss Guyana. I miss my old school and old friends, neighbors and a lot more things. But one thing I miss the most is my grandpa… And I miss hearing him speak. I miss being in the hammock, kicking off those pale yellow wall and listening to my grandpa’s stories. I would give anything- and I mean anything to be there again.