92 and Counting

My grandma turns 92 today. She doesn't look a day over 70, and doesn't act a day over 30. She spent time at my wedding dancing with everyone who would dance with her, and she laughed the whole time.

I could give you 92 reasons why she is an amazing woman, but I know that most people wouldn't want to read that many.

So instead I will give you 9 and then, for good luck, 2 more.

1) She was the youngest of a lot of kids, and was quite possibly the spunkiest. Given how she is as an adult she had to have been. She grew up in Kansas and had never lived anywhere else until she was an adult. And she had red braids, which I hope, with the combination of Lee's hair, we will pass on to our own baby in a few months. And if not? I have the actual red braids she had cut off at home, since she saved them all these years.

2) She was born exactly 60 years before me, and she graduated from high school exactly 60 years before me. For some reason that has always seemed pretty cool to me.
3) She loves the Arizona Diamondbacks with a passion like no one else. Trust me on this one. The year they beat the Yankees in the World Series I called her, from DC, to Arizona, and both of us were yelling and cheering and I was so happy for her, despite my long time allegiance to the Braves. She knows players, stats and records. She may be their biggest fan.

4) She married my grandfather, my pop-pop, on April 22, 1939, in Weston, Missouri. They took pictures with the Priest after, and then they drove off in a 1938 Chevrolet, where they went and had breakfast in a roadside cafe and had their picture taken again. Everything about the picture of them on the car makes me smile, because could they be any suaver?

5) She had my dad, and at the age of 5 he was diagnosed with colon cancer. You have no idea how many doctors scoff at that when I tell them, but it is true. And they were told he wouldn't survive. So instead of taking that news and disappearing inside themselves, they took my dad on a train trip across the country so he could see the US. They took him to Boston, New York, Florida, and they made sure he saw everything. He had surgery, was in the hospital for a long time, and 58 years later? He is a-ok. I am sure my grandmother's spunk had a lot to do with it.

6) My grandfather decided he wanted to open a motel. In Kingman, Arizona. On Route 66. And instead of saying no, instead of deciding she didn't want to leave her family and her life as she knew it, they sold everything, hopped a train with two young boys, and moved across the country. Right before I moved to England she sent me a letter and told me all about how hard it was, the difficulties they faced, and how at times she really was unhappy, but she loved him, and her kids, and she did it, and she knew as hard as this move was going to be for me that it was the right thing to do. I will never forget that.

7) She has always worked hard, whether it be owning a motel, running a motel, or volunteering up till the age of 91 in the museum in Kingman. She learned how to work a computer in the gift shop, and she emails me, still, despite the fact I know it is confusing at times.

8) She drove the same car for over 30 years. It was huge. HUGE. And yet she kept it in excellent condition, and drove it till my dad decided perhaps a smaller car would be better. So she got a 4 door Lexus, which she promptly named Sexy Lexy and whose arrival she heralded with champagne and a big bow. You can see a little of the old car on the right in the picture below. Let's put it into perspective though - the Lexus is a sedan, so it is not a Mini. It is quite long. And yet it is dwarfed by her old car. Because truthfully, you can't tell how much longer the blue car is, but it is.


9) I always, somehow, managed to get in trouble when she stayed with me growing up. My parents would go out of town, and I would do something to get in trouble. In 6th grade my friend and I wrote on the bottom of a note 'For a good time call (blank) at xxx-xxxx'. We got caught, she got called, and I had to pick up the cafeteria floor everyday for a week. In high school I skipped school one day when she was staying with me. Of course my school called my house to say I wasn't there - as they ALWAYS did - and yet I was baffled when my parents came home and busted me. But the good news is we can laugh about it, and she can say 'Remember when you did this?' and know that deep down I really was a good kid.

10) She knows what she wants, and she isn't afraid to say it. My parents keep telling me I get it from her, my determination and my willingness to say what I think - and though I laugh about it we all know it would be an honor to be like her.

11) Last spring she essentially broke her back, for lack of a more detailed description. She hurt, and she suffered and she worked through it. She has gone from not being able to do anything to going to therapy and working hard 2 times a week, on her own. She chose to move into assisted living because she knew it would be the best thing for her, and she is thriving. She is determined to be back to driving Sexy Lexy by the end of this month and you know what? I know she can do it.


Happy birthday Grandma! I hope your day is filled with love and laughter - the same things you have been filled with for 92 years.