a gift

on the eve of my 25th, i post this piece i wrote to be read at my grandmother's funeral last year...

it hit me moments ago that this would be my first birthday without her...

i reflect on the good times though, birthdays past, and know she's close...

A grandmother is a gift, a gift you’re never sure of how long you will have. She’s the one who would go to great lengths to make you that heavenly hash salad you always loved or the one who would beat grandpa to the raspberry bush in order to save you a berry or two.

She’s the one who would strain your lemonade because you didn’t like the little feathers floating in the pink puddle of sweet and sour. Grandmothers are the ones who would pick you up from school when you were sick and had to leave early. She’s the one who squashed the potato bugs and picked the weeds, went on the fishing trips and took you on adventures up north with the ritual stop at the French River to eat your packed lunch.

She’s the one who brought the cheese puffs to the baseball games. She’s the one who indulged your love of reading by buying you a new book each time you went grocery shopping. She’s the one you traveled to Oakville with – three generations reminiscing about where she spent a large chunk of her life.

Although our memories of the gifts this grandmother has brought to each of us might differ, it is important that we all take time to remember these little things. Remember the smell of lilacs she loved, the grin she had when she “skunked” the men in a game of euchre, the walks to “the pit.”

Remember the laughter, the hugs and most of all the love. Remember the little things, for those gifts are the ones that will last forever.