HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!

In honor of my Grandmother's 80th birthday which is today, we all were asked to write down our favorite memory or something we love about her to be compiled in a book. Tonight we presented the book to her at her party. I thought I'd go ahead and post my memory here as well. I love you Grandma and hope you had a simply marvelous birthday!

January 2009
My favorite memory with Grandma began most promptly on June 5th 1989. This, if I’m not mistaken, was in fact, the very first day of the summer after my fifth grade year. You see, I had such high hopes for this summer. Plenty of lazing around, hours upon hour wasted away playing Nintendo, and enough daytime TV to make up for anything I’d learned the previous school year. Homework and tutoring were the last things on my mind. Heck, they weren’t even on my radar. Well, apparently they were on my Mother’s. And that afternoon my fantasy of a lazy summer came to a screeching halt, during a seemingly harmless visit to my Grandmother’s house. The ghastly plan those two had concocted seemed down-right evil. It seemed to me that they were, quite simply, out to get me. And my summer.

Well, I was informed, not only was I going to come to my Grandmother’s house a few times a week to be tutored and drilled and basically re-taught my fifth grade year, but I was going to have to RIDE THE BUS! Now, I was sure there were plenty of kids who rode the bus and survived, but I was most certain that wasn’t going to be me. Heck, I’d never rode the bus anywhere, let alone clear across town BY MYSELF. But apparently, this was exactly what was going to happen. And did.

Every day I would catch the bus out to my grandparent’s condo on 4th Ave. Then (what I was sure would ultimately end up being a gigantic waste of time), began my lessons with Grandma. We did hundreds upon hundreds of flash cards. Math for days. Spelling, spelling and more spelling. Every conceivable subject was studied, and restudied. Tests were given, and minds were expanded. And somewhere between those tutoring sessions and my endless glasses of Ovaltine, an amazing friendship and bond was beginning to form. Soon I realized, that perhaps this was also not my Grandmother’s ideal way to spend her summer either. Perhaps, I was learning, that there was more to my Grandmother than her endless fifth-grade knowledge. I came to know her in a way, that quite simply, I hadn’t before. Somewhere in my little 10-year-old mind I was falling in love with my Grandma.

I learned much more than just reading, writing and arithmetic’s that summer. I learned about my great-grandmother and great-grandfather. I learned about who she was as a person, what she liked and disliked. And she told me some of the most amazing stories I’d ever heard about when she was a little girl. And most importantly, I learned just how much she loved me. I’m sure I wasn’t the most pleasant pre-teen ever, but she was patient and steady, and strict when necessary. For I learned that summer, that the real lesson being taught was about unconditional love. The love that she had for me. For the service she provided and the education she imparted I will forever be grateful. A summer that in the beginning had no conceivable potential, and honestly seemed quite dreadful, actually ended up being one of my most favorite and memorable of my life.

Thank you Grandma for your constant support through the years, your wonderful attitude, your invaluable lesson about love, and helping me pass the fifth grade. I love you! And hope you have a most magical birthday! Love, Amy