Roots

I went to take care of my grandma part of this weekend. She had hurt her back and has been having trouble doing everyday things, so my mom and I went up to help her out. She's in her 80's. It is hard to watch her get older and struggle with life. I learned even more what makes my mom the way she is. We've never had a "storage room" because we store our food in the "fruit room." My grandparents always had fruit trees and would can every summer and make jams and they would keep it all in this part of the basement full of shelves (the fruit room). And both my mom and my grandma love Elvis. They both paint. Even my grandma's tape dispenser is painted beautifully. They both have strict diets. Neither of them like to be fussed over. They are both very generous people, very kind people. They have the same smile and similar laughs. I remember once a while back when we visited Grandma and I noticed a book on her nightstand called Yankee Doodle Dead. I had to laugh, because I never knew that she is a sucker for murder mysteries, too. All three of us love music boxes. So did my great grandmother. And we all love cats -- great gram, gram, mom, my sisters, me. It made me realize that family is a lot about what you share. It's letting yourself soften around each other and looking after one another. That instant forgiveness you give each other because you know them so well that you know they didn't mean to and you know why. I have loved my grandma forever. And my late grandpa -- he was very tall and when I was a baby he held me with one arm up high and I would look all around with this studious little look. They were never perfect. And sometimes I don't really know what to say when there's a lull. But they are what I come from. Both sets of grandparents are why I believe in hard work and saving money for a rainy day (or trying to) and why I can tell if it's Louis Armstrong playing that trumpet or Bing Crosby crooning a tune. They are why my face crinkles in certain places when I smile or scowl. They are why I will become who I am becoming and I don't even know it yet. And someday I'm going to tell my sweethearts about their great grandma and how she made the best strawberry jam in the world. And I'll play them her music boxes and show them her necklaces and her pictures and I will be very proud of what a fine person she was. All I can do is endeavor to be a little more like her.