Remembering Grandma

We pulled into the gravel driveway a punctual half hour before our expected arrival. Great, I thought, an extra hour I would be waste at my grandparents'. Wasn't it good enough that I was spending the entire weekend here? Did we have to get there so soon? When you are thirteen, each minute at your grandparents' is like sitting through an oration of the entire set of the World Book Encyclopedia. Climbing out of the …

…before. For the last six months of her life, Grandma lived in a retirement home, but before that, she lived with my family. I can remember Grandma combing her long hair every night, walking in soft slippers, shuffling across the dining room. She lived and died a Catholic and a Democrat. More importantly though, she lived and died the mother of four children, a grandmother of many grandchildren, and a great grandmother to even more.