When I was about 5 years old, my
grandmother Anna Richey, or “Granna” for short, sent me a book titled “Donald
Duck and the Witch Next Door”. I rarely
saw my Granna more than once or twice a year as she lived so far away, and so
along with the book, she sent me a cassette tape recording of her reading the
book to me. So even when she wasn’t
there, she was there. This meant the
world to me as I loved my Granna and wanted to see her all the time. The tape itself was not very special, but the
label said “Granna reading to Jason” and I loved seeing my name on a cassette
tape. On the tape, Granna spoke to me as
if I were right there next to her. Granna
was the world’s best story reader as far as my 5 year old mind knew. Her voice on the cassette would change for
every single character so I would know who was speaking. She would even ding a bell when it was time
to turn the page. Maybe she couldn’t do
Donald Duck’s voice the same way that it was done in the movies, but who
cared? Every time I listened to that
tape, I felt like she was right there, reading to me. I used to carry a tape player around the
house with me and listen to the book in different rooms of the house. Wherever I went, Granna was with me.
As I
grew up and learned to read, I found that I was able to follow along with Granna
as she read, but I never read it on my own.
I had other books for that. This
was my special book that could only be read by Granna. When I pick up kiddy books I read as a child
now, I am always surprised to find that they don’t have the same story as they
did when I was a kid. This is due to the
fact that before I could read, I would simply pick up books and make up my own
story based on the pictures. My version
of “Cat in the Hat” was much more disturbing with much fewer rhymes. But “Donald Duck” has the correct story
line. Granna made sure of that. For this reason, it is my favorite children’s
book.
It is getting
harder to find tape players these days but it is always worth it to me to give
this tape another listen. Recently, my
Granna passed away. I miss her more than
words can tell. The tape contains more
than a book. It contains my grandmother’s
love; it contains her regret that she can’t always be with me, while also
bridging the gap between us, if only briefly, allowing her to read a book to
her loving grandchild. The gap between
us has widened, but this treasure brings her close to me again, just as it did
in my youth.
Artist's Response
When I first wrote about this tape, I hadn't listened to it for years. I was writing about it's meaning to me in the past. But when I went home and asked my parents about it, they reminded me of some of the finer details I hadn't recalled. They told me about how I used to carry around a tape player so that I could listen to it again and again. I must've listened to it over a hundred times. They said I always got a kick out of hearing my name spoken aloud by my Granna. When I listened to the tape again, I realized that it still applied. My grandma is gone to a place I can't visit, but I can still hear her voice and hear her say "I love you". It is a great treasure to me.
I realized after writing it like a story, that I wanted it to be more like a memoir, something that stood as a tribute to my Grandma and the treasure she left me. I felt like writing it in this way allowed me to more fully convey my feelings about the object, rather than just telling a particular moment of using it. I realize this is a bit off of what I was supposed to write about, but I prefer it this way.
No comments:
Post a Comment