I never saw Grandmommy outwardly up-set or bothered by anything. Even if she was describing something she didn’t ap-prove of, there was never a hint of nasti-ness. In elementary school, I interviewed Grandmommy for a paper about the Great Depression. She didn’t tell a *sad* story. She talked about how she lived as if there was no unfairness, no tragedy about what was going on at the time. It was just life and she just went about living it. I’m sure my own even-keeled nature came through my father, from Grand-mommy.
Now that I’m sort of an adult, I am able to appreciate just how strong a woman she was, as I watched her work hard late in the game just to live, punch that clock right on time at 90, and call it a good life. So that’s the way I figure she’s looking down on us right now, waving with her big smile, pshawing our grief. Because she just took the next step with grace and all she has to do now is just sit and wait for the rest of us to catch up. She’ll tell us how proud she is of how we journey to the next step, no mat-ter how we do it. But we’ll still be in awe of how lived life so much stronger, full of meaning, and deeply invested in her family than your average person.
— Chris Pryce Yallalee
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