As I spend time on the west coast with my grandfather while he comes to terms with terminal cancer, I'll be sharing posts from dear friends - all in tribute to our grandparents. I've asked friends to share a favorite memory and a photo, and I have to say that I am truly so very honored by the beautiful memories and photos that landed in my inbox. I think you'll love these posts as much as I do. And I hope you'll join us with your own memories in the comments.
I loved reading Hannah's post. It brought back so many memories of my own grandmother. It always felt good to be near her, as Hannah said of her grandmother. In fact, while she was alive there was nowhere else I felt more me, more loved, more safe. But I'll save my post for another day. Today is all about my beautiful friend Hannah and her grandmother...
-- -- -- -- --
From Hannah Huffman
you know how you have a tendency to freeze people in your memory at a certain age? for instance, i will forever picture my brother josh as that chipmunk cheeked seven year old in the blue three piece suit. never mind the fact that he is thirty. that is immaterial to my memory. as for my grandmother, this is exactly how i picture her in my mind. in a caftan, with her hair piled up high on top of her head in that neat bun of hers (maybe a bit more grey than in this photo), with reading glasses on a fancy chain. i am the apple of her eye. her favorite. and i can say this proudly with validation. maybe this is just the special right given to the first grandchild. maybe it was because there wasn't another on either side of the family for another four years, or maybe it's because when i am with her, i feel best. whatever it was, we were attached at the hip. don't worry, i started wearing pants around the age of four. i spent every single possible weekend sleeping over at my grandmother's house until middle school. we cooked together, we birded together, we watched golf together, she watched dr. who and i covered my eyes, but i still sat with her. we were even known to wear matching outfits from time to time. i could spend hours and hours trying on all her jewelry and fox stoles. or i would join her at the folding card table where there was always, without fail, a gigantic jigsaw puzzle in various stages of completion. as i got older, we would do fancy things like go to art exhibits and book talks. my grandmother traveled the world and always brought back the perfect thing for me. during the terrible cabbage patch kid craze of the 80's, my grandmother somehow managed to find one in spain, of all places, and bring it all the way back to missouri for me. i was on cloud nine, or nueve if you will. these days she's not doing so well. her physical health is good, but people get mixed up a bit for her. the last day i spent with her before leaving for california, i couldn't bear to tell her and have her get upset, so instead i asked her to tell me old stories of her life. she met my grandfather during WWII. they were both in the air force. she was a nurse, and was assigned to take care of japanese prisoners of war on the isle of lady in the pacific. she told me that my grandfather would sneak bottled beer onto his airplane, then fly as high as possible so that they would get cold and frosty, then quick as could be, come back down and bring them to her. i guess cold drinks were hard to come by. how fantastic. i will miss my grandmother more than i can put into words when she goes, but i will always and forever cherish the memories we made together.