It’s finally the weekend. I work Monday through Friday so the weekend is my time to not do anything or to do everything. This weekend is an “I’m not doing a single thing” kind of weekend. Mainly because I was allowed to take my work laptop home so I’m spending my time working on this blog. And of course watching Harry Potter and eating grilled cheese. Tyler has had the movies recorded for awhile so we are finally watching them. And if you know me at all, you know how much I love a good grilled cheese sandwich. I can cook great meals, but until I started dating Tyler I couldn’t make a good grilled cheese to save my life. Pathetic I know. But guess who made a couple of perfectly grilled cheeses today? Me duh! So far this Saturday has been perfect. Between sleeping in until 10, cuddling with the dogs and annoying them, watching movies, and grilled cheese, I don’t think it could get better today. Unless maybe I won a million dollars somehow!
Almost everyone I know has seen the Harry Potter movies or read the books. Or both! I have not read a single page of the books. And I only saw the movies for the first time 2 years ago. So while my friends were excited when the last movie was in theaters, I didn’t care at all. You know how kids always talk about waiting for their Hogwarts letter? I didn’t do that. I was more interested in the things my grandparents watched or the books my Nana was reading.
I didn’t grow up as a normal child in my opinion. Just because I wasn’t very social, and I had just a few friends that I would hangout with on weekends. I never partied, drank or did anything crazy when I was in high school. Yeah I gave my grandparents and parents and auntie a hard time. I won’t lie, I was a difficult one. I had an attitude problem, I have no idea why but I did. Now if we went back in time and accused Iliana of having one she would have claimed she didn’t. Now that I’m 23 , I admit to my mistakes as a child and teen.
As mentioned in my introduction post, I was raised by my amazing grandparents. I am so thankful for that because that is how I turned into the young woman I am today. Being raised by them also meant watching the movies and shows they liked because we spent a lot of “family time” together. At about 8 every night, my Papa would call family time. Which meant no phones, no laptops, and watching TV and spending time together. Yes, I have to admit at the time I hated it because I wasn’t allowed to use my phone or talk to my friends. But now that my Nana is in heaven and my Papa is in CA, I am so thankful for the times I got to do that.
We would watch “Dancing with the Stars”, “Criminal Minds”, “NCIS”, “America’s Got Talent”, and many other popular shows. Those four were my Nana’s favorites. Sometimes we even watched westerns, storage auction shows, home renovation shows, or car shows. I watched the shows that my friend’s parents were watching, not the ones that they were watching. When I was in high school, it wasn’t “cool” to hangout and do family time. My first boyfriend thought it was the dumbest thing. Red flag I know but I was dumb and eventually learned my lesson. But it’s what we did, no matter what. Every night, we spent hours together until I went to bed. And if I wasn’t done with homework by then(I usually was), I multi tasked or at least tried to. Seeing as I was only able to do my homework at the dining room table it worked out. But our family time was not limited to just every night, it also included weekends when I wasn’t at my mom and dad’s house.
On Saturday’s I would do my chores, which I admit that I hated and sucked at doing because I hated them. But after chores, I would either go to my mom and dad’s house or hangout with friends or just stay and hangout with my grandparents. I hardly ever spent time in my room growing up. We used to go to thrift stores on Saturday mornings! As a teen I had friends who thought I was crazy when I told them that. But I cherish those memories. If my Nana went shopping and my Papa and I stayed home we would watch a movie she hated. Nana absolutely HATEDΒ scary movies. We made her watch “The Conjuring and it was great to see her react. She really hated “Anaconda” and we (my Papa and I) loved that movie. To this day I still love it. She wasn’t too fond of “After the Sunset” either. Maybe because we watched it all the time, but I still will never turn it off if it’s on. Another movie she wasn’t too found of was “Double Jeopardy” with Tommy Lee Jones. We watched that way too many times to count. At one point the VHS lived next to the DVD player on the stand because we watched it so much. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you watch it immediately.Β She wasn’t fond of the Jurassic Park movies either. Papa and I loved them. You can ask Tyler, if one of the movies are on TV I am either recording it or turning it on. Hands down “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” is the best one and one of my favorite movies. And if you haven’t seen the newest Jurassic World, WATCH IT! I loved it, just saying.
When Tyler sits with me and tells me about some crazy things he did in high school, I look at him like he has lost his mind. Even when his parents or friends tell me the things he did, I look at them like they are crazy too! The reason I do this, is because going to Dozier-Libbey Medical High School had its benefits. It was a public high school but you had to go into a lottery to get in. Just because it was a specialized high school. Not only was it an AMAZING high school, it didn’t have the “normal” high school vibe. Sure it had fights and bullies and whatnot.Β But we had uniforms, out uniform was medical scrubs everyday except free dress days or if we had a presentation that required professional dress. So having to choose clothes that were cute or in style was not an issue for me at least because I didn’t care since I was wearing scrubs. We also didn’t have any sports teams, because again we were smaller. I think the vibe of my high school was different because my graduating class was close. At normal public high schools not everyone knows everyone. At mine just about everyone knew each other. Especially the first year before we had under class-men. My graduating class was only the 2nd class from my high school. I LOVED high school, at the time I probably would have said I hated it but looking back I loved it.
Today my grandparents have been married for 45 years. I dream everyday to have a marriage as loving as theirs is. If it wasn’t for my grandparents and my experiences as a child to now, I would not be the same Iliana. I am beyond grateful for every experience I have had so far on this roller coaster, good and bad.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think β₯
-Iliana
Welcome to the ride of a lifetime π 