Been a kid in my grandparent's house

My father left when I was 3. My mom with unfinished High School, less than 22 and 2 kids decided to come back to my grandparent's house. Here starts the story!!

My grandfather was a school teacher.  My grandmother was a "housewife" like we call them today.  They had 13 kids... Yes!  you read it correctly... 13.  My mom was the 12th.  When we went back to their house I guess my mom thought was for a short period... or may be not.  I really never asked her that question.

Anyways... The household at that time was big.  My uncle Leo, my uncle John, my aunt Marina, my grandma Maria, my grandpa Jesus, my mom, my brother and I. My mom's decision was made knowing she had to go back to her parents rules but at that point her kids were more important than her own pride and she accepted to return to a life I'm sure she wanted to escape.

My grandfather was a very strict man.  Always very clear about rules and very interested in have all his kids and now his grandkids very well behaved.  He never left his teaching life.  When I was 5, he used to sit me in the dinning table to make calligraphy homework and I was not even in school.

My brother was just days old when we moved.  He was my grandfather favorite. When my brother was older, he had breakfast with my grandfather all the time.  Many people said was not just my brother.  All of them said he always talked very proud about me.  But for me he was an old man very ungry and unfair person that just wanted to make my sofer with all these homeworks and duties.  At that time I did not like my grandfather.  But I have to say... until the day he died, he always carried in his wallet a picture of my mother and I.

Everybody in my house was old.  And everybody liked old things.  Old music, old movies, old dresses... I grown up in a very old fashion environment.  I know music that most of my friends dont know it exist and I was always behind for new stuff... two or three years behid.

We did not have too many things to do in my neighborhood.  We had a couple good neighbors that invite us to their houses to play with their kids.  We did not have parks or other places to play close by so we did all in our house.

Many people can think it was a terrible childhood but I can asure you it was wonderful!.  We had to be very creative.  We used different shapes of tree leaves to represent the food market and all the products we could buy.  We also had our parents more involved with our education.  We didn't have X-box or Wii to play with. In fact the Tv in my house was black and white... And it was for a long time.

We practice a lot of sports and believe it or not we played on the streets with the cars going in and out of our block..!  Thank God never happened nothing wrong. But that also was because since young ages we learn how to beware of the crazyness on the streets and how to be very careful with everything around us.

To be continue....