Legacy

To be so bad with numbers, I am awfully good (oxymoron, yes?) with dates.  So, there’s a lot going on today, August 17^th, but the thing that strikes me most about this date is that two years ago today, my Nanny went home to meet Jesus face to face.  Not a day goes by that I don’t either do something she taught me or think of something she used to say or laugh at how she would be dolling out the advice on how to handle visitation and “joint” parenting (I’m being kind with that wording).  And oh my gracious, how she would love this baby girl just like we all do. 

Enough time has gone by now that when I think about her, I don’t think about her sick and suffering like we did for so long after she fought cancer so dag-gum hard there at the end.  Instead, I think of our shopping trips and visits to the library and how intently she listened when I told a story.  I find myself regularly asking mom and Skip if they are really listening to me, and I never ever had to do that with her.  It’s one of the things I miss the most.  She was my greatest admirer and you better believe I worked hard not to let her down.

This summer, through their posts and pictures, I’ve watched two friends on Face.book say goodbye to their grandmothers.  My heart just broke for them, but it also was a great comfort to see that other Memaws and Grannys out there are just as treasured as my Nanny was.  I know so many in my generation that don’t make spending time with their grandparents a priority, and that’s sad.  Truthfully, I think we lose out on more by not being around than they do by not having us around. 

So, when I think about my Nanny today, it’s not bittersweet, it’s just plain sweet.  In many ways, I feel as close to her today as I did when she was still here.  I am a mother now and I get to try to do the task justice like she did.  I get to watch my mama be the Nanny my Nanny always was.

We didn’t get a whole lot monetarily when my Nanny died.  She’d spent our inheritances on our first cars, and spending money for me throughout college, and finally cancer treatments.  But what she did leave is a legacy and I am so incredibly thankful for it.