My Grama...

My dad called to tell me that my Grama passed away yesterday. We knew it was coming. She had been sick with cancer and recently was in great pain...which none of us wanted. And while you know it's for the best, it still sucks. Cancer sucks.

I wrote this and I'm thankful my brother will read it at my Grama's funeral on Wednesday...I know I never could've read it...it was hard enough to write.

It is not easy to express how much I love my Grama...not easy at all. The last few weeks there has been nothing more that I wanted than to be home with my family, but situations as they are, it was not possible.

But, I have spent the time reminiscing about all the times we spent together...and the times continuously bring a smile to my face.

When I was little, Grama was our number one favorite babysitter. There was no one better to take care of us when mom and dad were going out. I think we probably encouraged my parents to go out so that she could come watch us. Afterall, she never yelled at us…ever! She always had treats for us – Wink soda and Cheetos were amongst my favorite. And we could always count on being up an extra 30 minutes past our bedtime – without a word being said to Mom and Dad.

As I got bigger Grama taught me some important things. Well, they were not the conventional things that you would think of like baking cookies or knitting…people always think of grandmothers teaching grandchildren those types of things. My Grama taught me the importance of the numbers 1-75 and how those numbers correlated to the letters B-I-N-G-O. My Grama loved BINGO and while the love of BINGO skipped a generation with my mom, I LOVED to go to BINGO with Grama. She and I would laugh at the people with their troll dolls and silly good luck charms and we would just roll our eyes when people would yell out “Chicken Legs!’ when the number B11 was called out – because 9 times out of 10 we didn’t even have B11 on our cards and this silly yelling was just wasting time until the next number could be called. And, I was always amazed at how many cards she could keep track of when she played…to me it seemed like dozens. 

My Grama also loved to shop…this I’ve known since I was little and this is a family trait that has been consistently passed down through the generations. When I was young, Saturdays were our shopping day – and it always included lunch at Friendly’s. Always. As I got older, we continued to shop and grab lunch. Last summer I was shopping with my mom and Grama and volunteered to buy lunch for them – maybe someplace nice. But, what do they choose? Hot Dog Charlie’s. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Hot Dog Charlie’s, but they sell hot dogs that are about the size of your pinkie and my mom and Grama spent the next 3 days laughing at “What a big spender” I was for buying them lunch at this fine establishment. I probably should’ve pushed for Panera at the very least, but I’ll always remember the good-natured teasing. 

And lastly, if you want to know how wonderful my Grama was, all I can tell you is that my senior year of college, I spent spring break in Florida – with my Grama. While my roommates were heading off to the craziness of warmer climates, I was heading to Boynton Beach to see her. It was a week full of shopping, BINGO, lots of laughs, breakfasts at the local bagel shop, and cold beer for me and vodka and tonics for her. There was no place I would’ve rather spent my spring break. 

Cicero wrote, “The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” Rest assured Grama that you have given us a lifetime of fantastic memories.