Goodbye Nana and Grandma B...We love you!

Sadly I lost both of my amazing grandmothers this year. Grandma B (GGMA) passed away on Jan 13th at 95 years old and she still looked  as if she wasn't a day older then 75. Beautiful. Her obituary reminded me that her purpose in life was to be in service to others. Incredibly selfless human being.

On May 4th my beloved Nana passed away. It was quite sudden. She was 91 years old and still funny and wonderful as ever. I love that she wrote her own obituary. :)

Me (8 years old), Grandma B and Nana looking as proud as ever

We called her 'Queen Mary' or GGMA. Here she is on her 93rd birthday 

An exert from the speech I gave at my Grandma B's memorial service:

We all know that Grandma B was a rule follower and a rule maker and sometimes being the only granddaughter didn’t have its perks. I can remember when we would all go out to lunch and my cousins would order soda and she would immediately order me milk. I like to think she was looking out for my health. J   Now that I’m a mother of three boys, I’ve learned to appreciate some of her other rules and I’ve realized that it was her way of teaching us to be civilized human beings capable of gracefully maneuvering the world… I can just hear here saying…

1.      Take small bites when eating

2.      Always say please and thank you

3.      Over dress vs. under dress

4.      Always cook your husband dinner (I think that was personalized towards me) I can hear her saying a well feed husband is a happy man)

5.      Always, always send a thank you letter!

6.      Stand up tall, shoulders back

I admire that even towards the end she enjoyed life and always kept her word. Five years ago, My husband and I moved to London 3 weeks after getting married. At our reception she told me ‘See you in London.’ Wouldn’t you know with a little nudge from my mom, Grandma B and her hopped a flight over the pond and we celebrated her 91^st birthday English style. Since she had already done all of the touristy things, we just lounged in our flat watching the summer Olympics and enjoying each other’s company. It was perfect. This was the beginning of a new phase of our friendship where we didn’t have to be “busy.” We could just visit. Listen. Laugh.  

When I was thinking about what I wanted to share today I was curious how the word ‘grandma’ was universally defined. So I looked up the definition of ‘Grandma.’ It said, “See Grandmother.”  With the definition saying: “The mother of one’s father or mother; a female ancestor.” 

I think I will rewrite the definition of grandmother as we experienced it… “Matriarch, eternal care-giver, writer of rules, full of grace and beauty with an incredible zest for life.”

Nana and my Great-Grandmother

My last picture with Nana when I surprised her and showed at her house on Jan 14th and surprised her and Papa with baby Gus. She kept saying, "Put that baby on my lap." Below is a video that captured her holding baby Gus for the first time. She LOVED babies.

A small exert from the speech I gave at her service:

Over the years our conversations matured. We still would always catch up on the latest Hollywood Gossip, Vanity Fair cover shoot, fashion trend or News scandal, but as I got older we began to have very real conversations.  My last visit w/ her was end of Jan when I surprised her and showed up at their house with my newest baby who was 8 weeks. She had met my other boys, and desperately wanted to meet the new addition. We had the opportunity to be by ourselves and just talk for over 2 hours.  You name it we talked about it. It happened to be the day after I lost my other grandmother, so we talked a lot about death. We talked about all of their worldly travels and her most favorite trips. We talked about my ambitions and trying do it all…career, mom of 3 boys and role as a wife. She listened intently with her big brown eyes and when appropriate she slid in some French wit to lighten the conversation and remind me that everything always works out the way it should. I don’t know how she did it, but she always managed through every conversation to make me feel at ease.  I’ve always said she’s the funniest person I know. 

I think about these women through out my days. I have no doubt they're enjoying cocktail hour and have their feet kicked up and are smiling ear to ear thinking about the amazing lives they both lead.