As many of you know, I’m in the throws of writing a memoir about the decade my grandmother and I wrote letters to each other. I’m spending hours a day editing, thinking, editing some more, and desperately trying to think less.
While reading one of her letters last week, I had a moment of sincere sadness. The kind that makes you put down what you are reading and lay your head low. And since I knew there were probably others who felt like that, I put a call out on Facebook for folks to share what they miss about their own grandparents. The answers were beautiful and heartbreaking.
I thought I would share a few…
“My grandaddy told THE cheesiest jokes but they were still hilarious. And my grandmother giggled like a little girl every time–as if she hadn’t heard them a billion times before. I hate that they never knew my children.”
“My grandma had a bosom. She had huge breasts and it didn’t matter if you were 3′ or 6′. You were gonna get lost in her chest when she hugged you. And she was gonna hug you. A real hug, not one of those sideways “I’m afraid to let our bodies touch” excuses for a hug.”
“My grandfather was like a father to me. He would clean out my car, check under the hood, make sure our home was sound. He was more active then me. I miss him very much. He died at 89 3 years ago and I wish I had 89 more years with him. It makes me sad that my 5 yr old only had 2 yrs with him, I’d love to hear him talk about his life again.”
“The smell of her cooking. Nothing I could ever make will smell like what that woman can do in a kitchen.”
“I miss my grams sense of humor. We used to have this saying that I wish I had recorded…It was: I love you deeper than the ocean, higher than the sky, and bigger than the whole wide world. And more than that.”
“Her soft hands and her touch when she held my hand!”
“Everything. Just everything.”
It’s amazing that many of you are total strangers, yet we all have that common longing to spend one more hour with a grandparent. I, too, miss everything about her. Even the annoying stuff that made me want to take the Judge Judy autobiography she loved and throw it out the window.
Thank you for sharing and making me feel like what I’m writing and doing is all worth it.
