Nonnie's Backyards: A Character Analysis

When do you become a grown up? I remember being five years old and lounging around in my Nonnie’s backyard. Like most kids, I did not want to be inside I would’ve much preferred the soothing chill of the air conditioner and Spongebob’s melodic voice. Despite my opinion, I found myself stuck listening to the earsplitting whining of the neighbors dogs while simultaneously wishing for something to save me from the desert that the backyard became around noon. In my eyes the only interesting thing about being in the backyard was the many different ways that I could annoy my sister; except there was one problem, my grandpa.
Poppie was always easy to pick out in our backyard, as he was usually seen lounging morosely in his chair, “watching” my

I believe that the reason it took my sister and I so long to realize that we were in fact more in charge of Poppie than he was of us is because of how natural it seemed to see my Nonnie lifting Poppie into bed at night, or cutting his food for him. Eventually my childhood ignorance was illuminated in the same dreaded space where I learned everything else that grown ups viewed as “important”, school. Only a few weeks after I had begun 2nd grade, I was confronted with the fact that not all grandpa’s were in wheelchairs and curious as to why my friends thought it was so freakish. Later, bristling with anticipation from the weight of my newfound knowledge, I haughtily demanded that my mom explain to me why Poppie was so different. So, with a sigh of uneasiness my mom explained to me how long before I was born, Poppie had fallen off a ladder and hurt his brain so that it couldn’t work like it had before. After my grand inquisition was greeted with such a mundane response, I continued on as before, having lost all curiosity in further