Nana's Treat

For many, this time of year indicates a time of excitement. School is letting out, summer begins, and vacations start. For my brother, cousins, and me, it meant our annual reward trip with our Nana. Every year, as a reward, Nana would take all of us boys on a special trip to the Memphis Zoo. It was all Nana’s treat.

Nana was my dad’s grandmother who practically raised him, his sister Skeeter, and brothers David and Randy. On my dad’s side I considered her to be my grandmother as well. Since the first of us boys arrived in this world, Nana started this tradition. Shawn was the oldest, then Chris and I in the middle, then my little brother Will was the youngest. Nana was a little ol’ frail lady who was quick to discipline but also quick to love. Our parents would drop us all off at her house in Frayser where we would all pile in her car and take off. She somehow always managed all four of us through out the park and practically gave us everything we wanted. Every year we would always get the magic penny that you pay a quarter for and receive a shiny penny that would be squished into an imprint of a gorilla. The Memphis zoo also had annual attractions and, of course, the figurines that came along with them. The back window of Nana’s car became a collection of all the mentioned figurines to remind us of our trips. There would be white tigers, gorillas, and pandas crowding the window. After visiting the animals, we would always ride the rides. Chris and I are the same age, so we rode most of them together while my compassionate cousin Shawn kept up with my little brother Will.

We would leave the zoo around noon and head towards the Wendy’s in Raleigh where we ate lunch before heading to the Mecca of all toy stores--Children’s Palace. It was every child’s dream. As a matter of fact I thought it was the ultimate toy store until I saw F.A.O. Schwartz on “Big”, but never the less, it was always exciting to visit. Nana would let us pick out one toy a piece which typically ended up being a GI Joe toy or something. By this time we were all worn out and ready to head home.

As we got older we realized Nana was getting older too. Shawn started doing all of the driving and we started to accommodate Nana as much as possible. Although it was an exhausting event for her, she always insisted we go. We continued this tradition all the way through high school and college. Chris and I were both freshmen at Memphis, Shawn was in Law School at Ole Miss, and Will was in high school at Millington. No matter how old we were we saw the importance of this tradition.

Nana passed away later my freshman year of college and the tradition ceased. We’ve talked about picking it back up, but everyone’s schedule, including mine, has always made it difficult. Shawn and I now have kids of our own and plan on starting this tradition for them, as well as pick it back up for us. I think Nana would’ve wanted it that way.

-Steve Childress