This little essay was written a few years ago, but I have resurrected it because I still feel the same today as I did then.
Everyone Needs a Grandma
Dear Grandma,
How good you were to me! You spoiled me and praised me and loved me just as I was. You never compared me to anyone else, and always had kind praise for me, no matter what my transgressions were. When I cried because I was afraid of the dark, you took me into your bed and lit the lamp on the night stand and left it lit until I fell asleep.
But you left too soon! I was only ten when you died, and I needed you more than ever when I went into my teens. You would have viewed my escapades with humor and tolerance. When I sneaked out of the house and went for a moonlight swim with the neighbor boys, you would have seen it as the harmless prank that it was. It would not have been the end of the world or a source of gossip and condemnation that followed me down the years until eternity. When I accepted a ride on the ferris wheel with a boy I met at the carnival, you would have known that it was just a harmless act of kindness on his part and a spirit of adventure on mine. He grew up to be a very successful businessman and a pillar of respect in the community. It didn’t ruin my life or lead to a stroll down a disgraceful path, as my beleagured mother predicted.
How I missed you, Grandma. You had ten children and many, many grandchildren, but you made each of us feel special and loved. Never did I hear you say a critical word about anyone. You were the most understanding person I ever met.
You met death in a terrible accident when you were only sixty. Your own mother lived to be 97. If you had only lived to be eighty, I would have been thirty and grownup, and past the turbulent years of my youth. But I was lucky to have had you as long as I did. Everyone needs a grandma!
I am a grandma and even a great-grandma now and I hope I am half as good as my grandma was! Night all and keep in touch.
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1 comment:
Your grandma sounds like a really wonderful woman. I never got to know two of my grandparents at all and both my father's mother and mother's father died when I was 8 and 10. I wish I had gotten to know them better. Grandparents can be so wonderful. My mom was a great grandma to my neices and nephews. I have not had the pleasure of having children, though I wish I had - and that they could know my mother - she loved kids so much. It's important to put down cherished memories like that I think. I'm sure she still looks down on you warmly with love and watches over you.
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