Response to "Old Country" and "Hose"

"Hose" and "The Old Country" are examples of memoirs. Each of these is about a memory each of the writers had as youth and each end with a sort of reflection or revelation. These differ from "Capital Realism", "Semi-Colon", etc in that these ARE about a particular even and tho there is a larger perspective gained at the end it is still about this particular topic and is inspired by the events written about. 

In "Hose" the author talks about wetting the dress of an elderly neighbor three times as she is on her way to the market. Even after being sprayed with the hose twice, she still continued to walk in front of the author's house. The author found this memorable because it was the first time she had experimented with testing boundaries (as children often do). Even though the author's mother had never verbally told her not to spray passers by with the hose, the rule was implied. But we all know that 'implied' rules are the first to be broken. When forced to apologize, the author said she felt no remorse then but some 40 years later she came to appreciate the lesson she was able to learn from it.

In "The Old Country" the author talks about his close baseball watching relationship with his grandmother. Until he became older and started listening to the radio with his friends. Then when the Cuban Missile Crisis became a threat, the author found himself on the couch with his grandmother again, watching the late night news. One night, the author comes downstairs to see his grandmother light up a long pipe and smoke it while praying in Armenian (the language of her home country). This is when the author realizes that his grandmother is the only connection to his past roots he has because for some reason, the old country isn't there anymore. In this, the author learns to have a greater appreciation for his grandmother.