Grandma Lola was no-nonsense and Grandpa Enrique was Pura Vida. He was a boilermaker with the Southern Pacific Railroad so we rode the train for free. I spent 4 summers at their hillside home in El Paso. They had chickens there and Grandma Lola asked me to catch one for dinner one day when I was 8 years old. I made a half-hearted attempt by throwing an empty can at one that fell far short of it’s mark. I fearfully went back into the kitchen and told her I couldn’t do it. She stomped outside like she’d hired an incompetent hit man and one poor chicken met his fate with a tree. After that, I did what she told me and I stayed away from trees.

Filed under: Family Stories on August 27th, 2015 Comments Off on My Paternal Grandparents

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