Saturday, March 19, 2011

Never Got Around To It

My Nay-Nay was a notorious quirky woman. She held a grudge against the Dodgers because they traded from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, that happened in 1957. And you would never bring up Jennifer Aniston in a conversation unless you were begging to have a two hour conversation about mediocre acting. She bought anything that was on sale, even if she already had it. She was a tough woman from New York who would not take any crap from anybody. Not even cancer, in which she had to show up everybody by beating not only breast cancer, but she had to fight lung cancer at the same time. And when they said she wasn't going to make it through the surgery (which was in 2003) she HAD to throw it in everyones face by making it for 8 more years.
I noticed that when someone dies, everyone throws around "never got around to it". "We were going to do this but we never got around to it." "We were going to do that but, we never got around to it." What if we did get around to it? What if we did everything with the ones we loved? At the end of the road would it be easier to let go? Or as living beings, would we find something to make us want to hold on longer? Is it programmed in our brain to not want to let our loved ones go?
I think back to my friend's funeral. He had Cystic Fibrosis and passed away when he was way too young, But at his funeral, it wasn't a heavy feeling you usually feel. It was light and loving. His family knew he could breathe and he wasn't in pain. His dad gave this amazing talk about passing your test in  life and how his son just passed his test so fast that God was ready for him. I'd like to think my grandma's test had lots of answers such as:
Sardine Sandwiches puts hair on your chest (as a young girl this thought terrified me).
If you insist to your grandchildren that you are an alien, they WILL believe you (glad you finally found your way back to the mothership NayNay).
Yogurt is a substantial meal.
And:
Work hard, love harder, grandma's hands are the best to hold because they are always warm, rag curls are the best done by pulling the hair as hard as possible (which now I thank her for my extremely strong scalp). And stand for what you believe and never back down. Oh and the more Virgin Mary's you have in the house, the more points you'll get in heaven.
I'll miss you Nay Nay. I'm proud of everything you have done. I hope one day I can be half the woman you were. I'm so happy you are finally with your daughter and Pop-Pop and your mom and your dad. I bet George and Ebony were soooooo happy to see you. Emily, I'm not so sure if she made it up there...fine...I bet Emily was happy to see you too (I don't know how the devil dog made it up to heaven, but I don't get to choose who goes up and who goes down...whatever). I'll catch you on the flipside. I LOVE you!
Alicia Pink
03/27/39-03/19/11

1 comment:

  1. Wonderful ari! Made me cry and laugh. :).perfect. :)
    Angie

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