A beautiful woman went to heaven yesterday. She was a wonderful mother and a very wise grandmother. She lived eighty-two years of beautiful life, although she had a few obstacles along the way.
Nana taught me that through the challenging times in our lives we should always seek God, for it is only through prayer that our prayers will be heard. Surely raising two children on her own wasn’t the easiest of times, but whenever she felt weak, she sought to God to answer her prayers. Although I have a biased opinion, I can see that Nana raised two wonderful children, my mother and my uncle.
Nana was 100% Irish, and you could see it through and through. Often times she was very stubborn, but we always knew that she meant well. Nana was always dressed in the most beautiful outfits and her hair was always done just the way she liked it—if her hair wasn’t just the way she liked it, she always made sure the hairdresser heard about it. Nana also didn’t like a lot of “clutter”, as she would put it. Her apartment was always spotless, but she always claimed there was still too much clutter. If she was only able to see my dorm room, she would then know EXACTLY what clutter looked like.
Nana did a few particular things that always got our family laughing. She had a strange obsession with having an abundance of toilet paper in her house as if they were going to sell out of it for good. If that were to ever happen—Nana would have been set. Nana also wrapped any sort of present like the crown jewels were inside. At times, it would take my brother and me upwards of ten minutes to undo all of the double-knotted bows and tape that she had wrapped our gifts with. I also don’t think she ever let her gas tank go beyond half a tank before she refilled it. I am most certain her gas gauge never even got close to nearing the “E”—better safe than sorry, as Nana always said!
As a child, I always loved to go over Nana’s house for countless games of Old Maid and tuna fish sandwiches for lunch. Nana always let me win Old Maid. If I ever had the “old maid” in my hand of cards, I would stick it out amongst all the rest and she would always pick it. I thought I was pretty tricky, but she was just being Nana—doing what she needed to do to keep a smile on my face. I have yet to meet a person that makes a tuna fish sandwich like Nana, and I’m most certain no one will ever be able to beat it. Whenever I was at Nana’s, she also spent a large part of her time trying to teach me how to knit. I was able to fully grasp the knitting concept and was pretty good at it, but sometimes I would make a bad mistake. Somehow Nana was always able to fix it, though—beats me how she did it!
One of my most favorite holiday traditions was going over to Nana’s house for pizza on Christmas Eve and opening up our presents that she had gotten for us. Every year Nana would buy me a beautiful Polly Flinders’ or velveteen dress. After visiting with her for the last time in August, she let me know how important it was to her to give me those dresses for Christmas. She told me she always had to make it a point to find the best dress for me. I let her know that I saved every single one of the dresses, and some day, my own daughter will be able to wear them as well.
Nana liked to live her life on her own and be as independent as possible. There were three particular things that made Nana very content: praying, reading, and watching the Red Sox. As I mentioned before, I don’t think there is a single time that I can remember when Nana wasn’t praying for someone. To have Nana’s prayers was the single best gift she could ever give to anyone. I visited and chatted with Nana on a frequent basis, and every time I was in her apartment, I would see that she had a new stack of books ready to be read. Every time I would talk to Nana from school, she’d give me an update on how the Red Sox were doing. I think she may have been the only 82 year old woman that could name every player on the Red Sox. She’d tell me how much she disliked A-Rod, and how badly Johnny Damon needed a haircut. When the Red Sox won a game, or particularly, beat the Yankees, it always brought such happiness to her life.
What I loved most about Nana was her will to carry on—to be a strong, independent woman that was guided throughout life through her faith in God. I think she taught me more than she would ever realize. Through her I have learned to always choose quality over quantity—for money will not buy happiness, but love will always bring guaranteed happiness. She also taught me that prayer is a very powerful gift that everyone is given, and that everyone should utilize as often as possible. She was a very important part of my life, and her lessons that she taught me and the memories that I have with her will always be carried with me forever. I know that without a doubt, I really made Nana proud. The last time I spoke with her she let me know how much I amaze her with all that I have already accomplished. She says that I am always on the go and no one can stop me, but I’m pretty hard for her to keep track of. Fortunately, now, Nana can keep tabs on me from all the way up in Heaven and have a birds-eye view of everything I have yet to do.
When I look to the sky now, I know that my family and I have four of the best guardian angels we could ever ask for watching over us. Four truly wonderful grandparents that have been such an influential part of my life and I will never forget them and all that they mean to me. Rest peacefully.
No comments:
Post a Comment