If you’ve been here awhile, you’ve read the sometimes-humorous, mostly irritating stories about my grandma. I was going to give you links, but after reading over some of those posts, I decided that they make me sound more evil than I ever accused her of being. Actually, this one is pretty good. Just ignore the others for a while, OK?
Grandma died this afternoon.
She was in hospice for the last couple months, so it wasn’t a shock. Honestly, we’ve been expecting it for a few years now. I talked to her the other day and told her I loved her—I guess that’s my closure. Still, the finality of death is super-sucky; that part makes me sad. Mostly, I feel for my mom and her brother. The combination of relief and loss they’re feeling right now can be even more upsetting when it starts making moods swing like ca-razy. Of course, Mom and Uncle Paul are the ones who are really going to be resting in peace now. No more middle-of-the-night phone calls from Grandma!
When I was little, I thought my grandma was awesome. She was 18 years younger than my other grandma, so she seemed young and energetic in comparison. Her silly sayings (“Can you watch my purse? It’s got a million dollars in it!” … “You left some trademarks” –how she told us to pick up our stuff) and stopped-being-cute-years-ago ways (you’d say “I’ll pick you up at 10,” and she’d call at 8:30 accusing you of being late) became the stuff of family folklore. We will undoubtedly roll our eyes forever at those memories.
It was when I became an adult that Grandma and I started butting heads. I hope someday I’ll be able to put that crap away and just remember the good times, when she had both her legs, whined way less, and was fun to be around. One thing that definitely helps me forget the rotten stuff is that she was a pretty good great-grandma to Katie and Jack. I’m glad their memories of Nana will always be smiley ones. Here’s one of my favorites, when Jack was four years old and Grandma was 132:
For better AND worse, my grandma left her “trademark” on the world. No doubt about that.
Sorry Jen, I understand both the relief and guilt that comes with a death like this. On the upside you've kept us entertained for years with tales of Grandma so that should make her happy. :)
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