Every year, on my endless quest for seriously auspicious days, I pause at May 18. It is my day of threes. Three people who were meaningful in my life and from whom I learned.
May 18 is Grammadora's birthday. We always pronounced "Grandma Dora" "Grammadora." Just one word, and all in a rush. (And now I am remembering Jonah, breathless and in a hurry before he must leave last Saturday night, saying to me, "Grandma," and a shake of his head, "I mean Nana," another shake, I mean, "Granny. . ." And that is just what Grammadora did every time she talked to me: "Maxine. Belle. Janie. Laurie. Janet. Susan." She'd eventually hit on the right name, and now I do that, too.)
Grammadora was a soft place in my life. She was patient and accepting and always on my side. When the visiting teachers were there and I came into the room, fresh from the darkness of Gramma's tiny walk-in closet and smelling a lot like Gramma's Pond's Cold Creme, she never let on when one of the nosy ladies asked, "What is that smell?" She would have known, but she kept my secret with a smile and a hug and an offhand comment, "Oh, I guess we all have our different smells." Oh, to be loved by everyone as I was loved by Grammadora. You don't have to be anything special to be loved by your grandma. You just have to be. And now I have grandchildren and understand why this is so.
She was also large-stomached, a world-class snorer, and now I wonder, did those pauses in her snoring reflect apneas? Probably not, as I think back. She snored loud and long and almost never stopped, all night long, and me laying in bed next to her unable to sleep because of the noise, but too afraid to sleep in the back bedroom where it would be quiet but scary. This was a torturous dilemma every time I visited, but I always went back.
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Two days having passed, I will no longer go on about my threes. Maybe next year.
Fun to pick up Annie and Curtis at the airport yesterday. They were tired but happy and Annie had lots of new, or maybe just brighter, freckles. Some day they will fade and she will miss them. As a child, I used to wonder why my freckles were so much brighter than my mom's. Now mine have faded, too, which I never thought would happen. Now that I think about it, I guess a lot of fading takes place with age. . .
Anyway, I figured if Roane had been with us, Annie might have got "Quote of the Day" yesterday. She was talking about coming home from the honeymoon and now real life begins. She said it was almost like they weren't even married in Hawaii, like it was one really long date. "The best date, ever!"
Maren and I are still swooning over Curtis's tribute at the wedding luncheon: "Annie is music to me." Is Curtis "our" most romantic husband? Anyway, I think they will spend forever having lots of best dates. Curtis: the newest member of the tribe. Until August.
