Grandma was a terrible cook and knew it. Going to visit her meant finger sandwiches or the diner. She had impeccable and unwavering taste; the apartment was painted the same two colors forever, the furniture was in perfect shape and straight out of a 1960's sitcom, and she owned one simple, practical gold watch.Grandma Esther died today at 10:50am today.She was happy because she never wore glasses, never broke a bone in any of her falls, never used a walker and never was in a nursing home.She always wanted to die in her sleep - and she did.
She was fiercely independent, loved to talk, ate like a bird, and always walked everywhere.
When I was young she would stock up on really bad kids cereal like Lucky Charms (which made my parents unhappy but my brother and I ecstatic) and state matter-of-fact-ly how she used to work as a secretary at the nearby prison and I am pretty sure the inmates were more afraid of her than she was of them.
She used her typing skills from those days to type up grandpa's college papers (he didn't go to college until decades after his kids.)
The first time my wife met her, we were driving to the diner and she kept going on and on about "kids these days with their pants hanging off their butts saying 'Mutha f**ka' this and 'Mutha f**ka' that"; this sweet old lady swearing like a hardened sailor and not batting an eyelash in the slightest.
She took no lip, expected no pity, gave bony hugs and pinched cheeks excessively. She loved bragging about her grandkids, and her global travels with Grandpa, and keeping things tidy, and balancing her checkbook.
And now she is with Grandpa, and being the terribly practical woman she always was, I doubt very much she would want anyone to be bothered very much at all, and so I will simply say: good-bye.
