A Wonderful Life

Sandiee: Picture taken 7/10/10, A day to honor her grandmother.

I feel lucky.  I have had the privilege of living many years knowing my grandmother Marie.  Her journey began on June 4th, 1912 and ended on June 27th, 2010.  During a vigil during her last moments, I asked my mother to read to her 23 Psalm:  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….Surely the goodness and love shall follow me all of the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  She loved that Psalm.

She lived a long and glorious life.  A German immigrant who moved to Washington, D.C. with her family who spoke only German, had a difficult start.  Though there was always a shortage of money, you would never know because her family was a jovial sort.  They always had food on the table and enjoyed ever single day.  They were livin on love and were quite happy to admit it.  She was also a tomboy, who wasn’t afraid of confrontation.  When her brother got into scuffles, she was right there to defend him….after all, she was 5’9 and tough as nails.  People often joke about school dropouts.  My grandmother only had an 8th grade education, but had more common sense than those with 10 times the education.  She was a hardworking dedicated housewife her entire life.  She had 5 children and raised many others as well.  She loved children period.  If she noticed a child in need, she offered to sew their clothes and make them something to eat.  She was a protective mother.  My father recalls when some neighbor kids tried to steal his lunch money.  My grandma quickly went to the source and told them she would, “Wipe the street up with them if they tried that again!”  When my Italian grandfather died (also an immigrant) when my father was 7, she quickly remarried the grandfather, whom I have known my entire life.  They retired to Florida, where they spent 20 happy years in paradise.  His journey ended in 2000.  From 2000 on, we took care of grandma and her dog.  We would often bring her to my house, where she would sing and eat. She was always a sharp dresser too and loved to wear make up, especially lipstick.

As a scientist and teacher, I know that genetics play a role in our behavior.  And I am officially proud to say that I have the “LIPSTICK” gene!  I can’t go anywhere without my lipstick.  I have stopped in the middle of traffic to apply it, stopped teaching classes to find it, and most of all it reminds me of  my grandma.  I’ll never forget those days I teased her and told her how naked she looked when the lipstick wore off.  She would jump up and exclaim OH where’s my lipstick!!  It did look good too!!  Even in your last months on this earth, I went to visit her…she wasn’t responsive at all, however, I reached out to put lipstick on her anyways and she actually held her lips out so I wouldn’t get any on her face.. Now that’s what I call a true diva…what an inspiration!

Thank you grandma for helping to toughen me up…all 5’1 of me, in a world that isn’t always so kind.  God bless you,  and thank you for giving me and our family a wonderful life.