The Locked Door

Grandpa was always kind of corky, I could only guess it was from him having served in the Navy. He often spoke of his time overseas. He never told us kids the scary stuff it was always about good things, beautiful things he saw. If he ever wanted my brother and sister to settled down all he had to say was “Navy Time!” We knew than that grandpa had a story to tell us. But what I always found so interesting was that grandma would sit with us with as much anticipation as us kids. I thought she would have heard all these stories already. They had been married for over fifty years. She made each story seem like a movie, we had popcorn and grandpa could make it seems as if we were right there. I can vividly remember his detailed description of the first submarine he went out to sea on. He would paint the picture like it was sitting in our living room. He would sometimes have us close our eyes and use our imaginations; it would seem so real. All of us kids got good at imagining things and I guess that’s why my brother ended up joining the Navy like grandpa when he grew up. He wanted to experience it for himself. He did realize that things now were a bit different then when grandpa was in the Navy but nonetheless, he enlisted.

    One of the first stories he told us was when he and grandma met. They had started dating not long after a get to together over her friend’s house. Her name was Darlene, and Darlene’s brother brought his friend, grandpa. They were hanging around the family’s pool and there walks in grandpa. He would tell the story that he saw grandma sitting across the way with a yellow one peace sunflower yellow bathing suit.

    He would kiddingly tease grandma by saying it was that bathing suit that not only caught his attention, but it almost blinded him. Grandmas would always blush. Grandpa continued with a description of what he was wearing that included a t-shirt and a pair of royal blue swim trunk. He said grandma played like she wasn't interested but he knew she was. They talked briefly and he got her number. Two weeks later he met her parents and her mother felled in love with him while he felled in love with her daughter. He father took a little longer because he wasn’t so keen on his future plans. Another time was the summer before their high school graduation. Grandpa lived in a nearby town so they didn’t get to see each other much but as much as they could. They finished the summer believing they had found their soul mate in each other. Grandma knew that grandpa was headed to the Navy right after graduation and he knew she was headed to college, but they vowed to stay in touch. Their agreement they made with each other was that after a year, if they still felt the same about each other, they would decide if marriage was the next step. After a year they married. Grandma continued her education and grandpa continued his Navy career. He was out to sea more than he was home, but grandma always made his coming home a big thing. Through the years the kids came. He would always make it home for their births. My mother was born first and then uncle James and Aunt Jenny.

    Grandpa, though his coming home visits were wonderful he never understood why grandma kept one door in the house locked. He never questioned it, but it did labor on his mind. He from time to time would ask but he never got a straight answer. She would answer now and then but nothing made sense to him, and he chose to leave it to her. He figured he wasn’t there enough to question her too much. So, he left it alone. But as time went on and myself and my siblings came alone, we too noticed the locked door. Grandpa had retired from the military and grandma had completed college and raised her kids almost alone. On more than one occasions we tried to get in this locked door. She kept it locked all the time and curiosity got the best of us, but that locked door did not open. All we wanted to know is what was behind that door. She didn’t feel that we needed to know.

    The door remained locked for years, throughout our teenage years and beyond. I am more than sure she went in from time to time to clean and so forth but never when we were there. It had to be when we weren’t there and when grandpa wasn’t there either. We do know that she started locking the door after being married for seven years. Why seven years we don’t know, but we would later fine out. 

    It would turn out after grandpa developed dementia the locked door would come in hand. He started to forget many things even his time in the military. Grandma when we were grown would asked us kids to take grandpa to the room of the now unlocked door. In it was hundreds of things from his military days. Pictures and even some of the letters they shared between them, His uniform his basic training picture, you name it, it was there. Grandma even had the clothes they were at their wedding. Her dress and his tux. Both were still pristine and beautiful. It was like a memorial of their lives together. Pictures of their kids and grandkids as we all grew through the years. It was clear he was sick because some things he clearly remembered some he did not. There were time tears ran down his face, especially when he would look at their wedding pictures. Grandma said she started doing this after their seventh wedding anniversary, because she was always told if their marriage made it passed seven it would last forever. She didn’t start the room because she knew grandpa would get sick. She had no way of knowing that. It was originally done for the both of them and especially for their kids and grandkids. I am not sure, we all believed grandpa appreciated it, though it was hard to tell. We expected he did when he would shed a tear.