The basement at Mom and Dad's house has had an interesting lifespan. The house is over 110 years old and was moved from a farm. In the early years it wasn't anything impressive, at least that's what I'm told. It had a coal room at first, but after Mom and Dad put in a gas furnace and added on the first major addition to the house, the basement became partly functional and partly playroom. One room was for the sole purpose of my house. I divided the room into kitchen, living room, bedrooms, etc. I even used wood blocks to make stairs so I could walk up to an imaginary second story. The other rooms of the basement were more functional with a stove, refrigerator, table, and chairs. This is where we canned corn in the hot, hot days of August. This was also where I played restaurant, taking orders, "cooking" the food, carrying out the dishes to my customers, making the malts by using the refrigerator handle as my malt mixer, and running the cash register with the play money I made myself. When I got older, the basement became the scene of boy/girl parties. My playroom had been replaced with the used furniture from upstairs after Mom got a new sofa and chairs. Mom spray-painted a light bulb brown to create the mood, but we were too young and scared to take advantage of it. Eventually we added carpet squares and a TV to make a pad for hanging out with boys.
The part that was "my house" now has the TV, sofa, electric fireplace, and the rest of the basement is a playroom for Mom's grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It has all the toy dishes and food and dance costumes that my daughters outgrew along with shoes and purses that Mom no longer used. The basement became what Grandma Miller's house was famous for.....that and her amazing cooking. When great grandchildren were confused as to which grandpa and grandma they were visiting, they would ask, "You mean the grandma with toys in the basement?" Mom always made sure any kid who came to her house had a cool place to play. Before and after and even sometimes during every family dinner, the kids were racing to the basement to play. What a wonderful legacy that basement has become. Three generations have enjoyed it and continue to enjoy it, all because of Mom.
My mother-in-law said that her kids (my husband included) always distinguished their two grandmothers by "the food grandma" and the "reading grandma." I think Mom would be considered the "play grandma."
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