Today is my grandmother’s birthday. Happy birthday grandma! I love you. As another year passes I have mixed emotions and am sad when asking myself the question, do I really know her? I know that may sound weird to ask of a family member but do I really know her? I know her as my wonderful and loving grandmother but she has been so much more in life then that.
What I do know about her is she is originally from England, met my grandfather in the war, fell in love and moved over to the United States. She left her family and all of her friends to start a new life in America with my grandfather. I will never know what that felt like for her. I can only imagine what that would be like. Terrifying and exciting all at the same time.
I also don’t know what she was like as a young woman. Not what she did to spend her time but more about what made her happy, what made her laugh and even cry. I don’t know what it was like for her as a mother, raising four daughters in a foreign country without her family for support in a time you couldn’t just pick up the phone or email them when you really wanted or needed their advice.
I began to realize that I don’t know my grandmother, well as least like I would like to. I have never had a chance to sit down and have a conversation with her, woman to woman. I am sure that we have similar emotions, habits, fears, likes and dislikes in life but I don’t really know what those are. I am a legacy of a woman that I really don’t know as I should.
I regret that and thankfully still have time to correct that. We all are here for such a very short time in this world. And so easily we forget to really know the people in our lives. I mean really know them. Not how their day was or how the job is going, etc… I mean really get to know them and have a deep conversation with them.
Conversations about life issues and about what their biggest triumphs and fears are. What choices in life they are proud of and which ones they realized were mistakes they had to learn from. What they would have done different if given that second chance and what they would love to pass on to us as wisdom.
These are things that I would like to know about my grandmother and hope to be able to share with my children if I ever have them some day. Because my memories of her will probably be the only way my children will get to know her. And I would want them to know everything about this amazing woman, who took so much risk in life so that someday her great grandchildren could be here. Thank you grandma, thank you very much.
Until next time.
Christy
Currently listening : Classic Sinatra By Frank Sinatra Release date: 28 March, 2000
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