Saying Goodbye to Nana.
From Update 553.
Last night, I fell asleep at about 9:45. I slept for a really long time. I woke and I felt absolutely magical. I felt as if I could leap tall buildings… and it was a good thing too because I had quite the day. I started off with breakfast with good ole’ Dean Collins. What a guy.
I then went to visit my grandmother one last time.
I get the sense that I might not see my grandmother again. She’s not doing well. She actually left her house today to move in with my aunt in North Georgia. I was able to get over there in time. It was there that we set for a good long while we talked and we laughed and just had fun.
I asked her questions…
“What are the three most significant moments in your life?”
“What is your earliest, happiest memory?”
We talked about all of the things that my grandmother has lived through..
The Great Depression. Pearl Harbor. World War II. Nuclear bombs. The Cold War. Korean War. The change that was the 50’s. The tumultuous 60’s. The Beatles. Kennedy’s assassination. The Cuban Missile Crisis. The Civil Rights Movement. RFK’s and MLK’s assassination. Man on the moon. Hostages at the Munich Olympics. Watergate. Iranian Hostage Crisis. Reaganomics. The Berlin Wall coming down. An impeached President. Columbine. 9/11. The war on terror. Iraq and Afghanistan and now—- just to bring it full circle—- the worst financial predicament this country has seen since the depression.
What a great life.
And she says that she probably won’t be around much longer. I tell her that I would appreciate if she could stay and she says that there are people waiting on her. She says that she’s lived a good life and that she is ready to go.
So we talked and we laughed and I teared up a little.
And at the end, I had an idea.
Thank God for the iPhone. It has an app on it that will do voice recordings— recordings that I can back up on my computer and email to myself and keep forever and ever.
I turned it on and I had her speak into it. I asked her to tell me things that she wants me to remember when I’m missing her in England.
And so she talked to me for a couple of minutes…. I would share it with you, but honestly- some things should stay private. Some things should stay sacred. I’m going to hold on to that for myself.
