I miss my grandparents

I miss my grandparents. It is not only the time of year that has brought this on, it is a daily thing but today it’s heavy. I miss the feeling of wanting to bust out of the car as we pulled into their driveway so I run through their door during a visit. I miss the smell of their house and of them. I miss monkey bread and rum cake and hearing the stories of late night dice games with friends. I miss hearing the ruckus in the kitchen when the family got together and a domino game got started. I will forever associate the smell of perm solution with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc. Curler rolling papers were never far from Nanny’s reach when needed. A coveted role for many of the seven granddaughters was to get a turn to hand her the papers. We were easily entertained.
My grandfather had ears longer than my index finger and he let me flap his free lobes as much as I wanted when I climbed into his lap. It sounds strange, I know, but as a kid it was endless fun. I have free lobes like him just smaller, same goes for my daughter. He was larger than life in most ways and still is in my memories.
My grandmother had this knack of making people feel comfortable and loved. It was effortless and genuine; it was not something anyone taught her. My grandmother’s hair did not begin to gray until her last year of life, when she was 72. She did not color her hair, although as a beautician she certainly knew how but she did not need to. I have to think it was because of the way she lived her life, no pretense, no regrets and lots of humanity and love.

I miss my grandparents. I used to whisper in my daughter’s ear as I rocked her at night that one of my many wishes is that I live my life in such a way that people will continue to say nice things about me to her long after I am gone. My wish for us all is that we leave a legacy that even beyond the grave our love continues to spread.