I've mentioned this many times before, but the main reason I started this blog was to keep my family and friends updated with my adventures when I was halfway around the world in China. One of the great things that came out of it was a special bond with my Grandma. We had always been pretty close, but for whatever reason this blog brought us even closer. My Grandma was an remarkable woman - she skipped several grades in school and graduated with a degree in chemistry from the University of Delaware at a time when very few women went to college. She loved science so much that she volunteered at the Franklin Institute Science Museum once a week for over 25 years. I remember every time my class would take a field trip there I was always the most popular kid because it was MY Grandma that was giving the tours and doing the demonstrations where they blew stuff up. One of her other loves was traveling. She traveled all over the world, including several African safari trips with her colleagues. I think that was part of the reason she was so excited when I got the opportunity to go to China - it was a place she had never been and she loved learning and seeing new things. While I was in China, my aunt would print copies of my blog entries and bring them over to the retirement community where she lived. While she was a brilliant woman, she never really got on board with technology and computers so the whole idea of a blog didn't really make sense to her. So instead of referring to it as my blog, she referred to my entries as my "letters." I always thought it was hysterical given that I can't even remember the last time I sat down to write a letter. Call them whatever you want, but my Grandma loved my letters. She would read the printed copies from my aunt, put them in large zip lock freezer bags and pass them around to her group of lady friends at her retirement community. After I got back, she told me just about every time she saw me how much her and her friends enjoyed reading about my experiences. When we had a surprise 90th birthday party for her, all of her friends came up to me and said "oh are you the one that wrote the letters? We loved your letters, if you travel again you have to keep writing!"
She would constantly ask me if I heard about getting another tournament and where I could possibly go. When the locations for the 2011 tournaments were announced I told her where they were and we would discuss what would be the coolest place to see. When I found out I would be going to France, she was a little disappointed I wasn't sent to the tournament in Australia but still very excited for me. The first thing she asked was would I be writing my letters again. I told her yes and the same process occurred - I would write and my aunt would print. When I got home and brought my computer over to show her my pictures she knew what everything was because she had read my blog. The same thing happened again this year - we talked about all of the different countries I could potentially go to and what would be the coolest. She thought Czech Republic was one of the best locations, so when I called to tell her I was going there she was really excited for me. And again, the first thing she asked me was if I would be writing letters on this trip. Of course at this point I didn't have a choice, you can't say no to your Grandma!
In the past 6 months my Grandma's health started to decline but she was still sharp as a tack. Before Thanksgiving she had a brief trip to the hospital but when I went to visit her she didn't want to talk about her health, she wanted to talk about my upcoming trip. Same thing at Christmas, we talked a lot about my trip. I left for my trip and every time I would write an entry about what we did that day or what I saw, I would think of her and wonder if she would find it interesting. I came home and had a quick phone conversation with her and we decided to set a date to go to Outback (it was her favorite restaurant - she loved the bloomin' onion, which is quite possibly the worst thing in the entire world for you) once I got caught up with life. I had been home for about a week when she ended up back in the hospital. We didn't think it was too serious and the doctors gave us a positive prognosis. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse over the weekend and she started to go downhill quickly. I went over to the hospital on Sunday, brought my computer to show her pictures and even offered to go pick up a bloomin' onion but she wasn't feeling up to it. She didn't look good and was down to 87lbs - small enough that I could lift her up and press her over my head if I wanted to. I spoke to my Mom on Monday and she said she was doing much better but they were still going to do a few more tests. Unfortunately she had caught an infection while in the hospital and was just not strong enough to recover. She passed away early this morning, just a few months shy of her 92nd birthday.
I'm so glad that I started to write these things and they brought us closer together. If I get the opportunity to go to another tournament, I'll keep writing and always think of her. Grandma, this letter is for you. I love you and will miss you.
UPDATE: I was over at my grandma's apartment today with my mom, aunt and cousins helping to clean it out. We opened a drawer in her sitting room and what was the first thing that that I pulled out? Several zip lock bags with printouts of all of my "letters" going all the way back to my first trip to China. That made me really smile for the first time since she passed.
