Remembering My Grandmother

I don’t expect this to be a popular post but its Mother’s Day.  My grandmother was an amazing lady.   I can’t tell you how many summers I spent with her as a kid in Seaside Park, NJ.  She was a sharp dresser, always perfectly dressed for the occasion including accessories and loved to spoil her oldest grandchild, me.  She was always introducing me to friends’ grandsons.   When I graduated from 8th grade, she took me to Virginia Beach.  On the Ferry over, she had me take a picture with a random guy if I didn’t meet a “sweetheart” while I was on vacation (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…).  Incidentally, I did and she was always good at keeping the details of our trips a secret from my parents.  Again when I turned 18 and went off to college, she got an 800-number so that I could call her anytime and not be charged (this was in ’93 before unlimited plans..).  Every day we talked and I shared everything.

She also promised me her diamond and when I met my college sweetheart, she fell in love with him too.  I remember overhearing their conversation about my “proposal” and him saying he was going to do it on the anniversary of when we met.  I’m so glad she was around to see me get married.  The day of my wedding, she gave me a handkerchief that was my great – great-grandmother’s.  I realized then how alike we were – v. modern women with rounded-out traditional values that anchored us.

Ever the optimist, when I would call my grandmother to discuss a challenge or problem I was facing, she would say, ” honey, when one door closes, another one opens.”   I’d like to think this is what she would have said about my divorce and my decision to leave the corporate world.

When she was dying of brain cancer, she never complained.  in fact, she was always trying to put a smile on someone’s face.  She always brought the nurses Godiva chocolates.  I always want to remember her that way – my grandmother – selfless, giving and young at heart.

Happy Mother’s Day. I miss you.