remember as a child, all those stories about strangers from the past warping through time and finding themselves utterly lost in the present?
suddenly, you saw the world through different eyes. refrigerators, cars, televisions, computers,
frightening gadgets with power beyond the imagination.
as we drove my grandmother to the airport this morning, streaming through the dark along a complicated system of bridges and highways, i wondered just how much had changed since she had first left her mother's womb. so many things, so much history,
essentially, she and i were born into violently different worlds.
my life is so different from hers. at this point in her life, she was starving and very far away from home, hiding from the communists invading her country and coping with the deaths of thousands around her. she was to meet my grandfather a few years later, and to become pregnant with her first child. they say she was four months along at the wedding, trying to disguise her growing belly with the folds of her gown.
we sent my little grandmother off into the world today, to fly across the planet and find her way home again. i squeezed her hard as i hugged her goodbye, trying to capture the special scent of her hair and trying to remember how perfect she felt, holding her bags and drowning in her extravagant mink coat.
my dearest grandmother,
that i will miss very much.
and even though i fear it every time, i am going to try to believe, very firmly, that this was not adieu.
No comments:
Post a Comment