It's Been a Year

I wrote this narrative for my English class, but my teacher told me that it was more of a description than a narrative so I had to write a whole different paper. Anyways, since it has been a year since she has passed I decided I wanted to post it in memeory of my grandma.
I decided that I will also start writing in my blog again after a year of being away.
Enjoy and look forward to up coming posts.


Precious Belongings
I am sitting in my mom’s air freshened car, when she hands me an old muggy wooden box. “Brittany,” my mom said, “Grampa wanted me to give this to you. He thought you should have this.” As I open the box wet tears run down my face as I notice a gold ring inside the box. This gold ring was my grandma’s wedding ring. I could not believe that I just received one of the most precious belongings that my grandma had. Faintly I hear my mom say to me, “Brittany lets go,” as she gets out of the car. Still shocked I take one quick look at the ring before I close the box and get out of the car. While walking toward the grocery store with my mom we reminiscence in the parking lot about my grandma and what a wonderful person she was.
Our memories took us back to 15 years ago to the day that I was boarding a plane by myself for the first time on my way to Sacramento to visit my grandma and grandpa. My mom described that when I left she was worried out of her mind and could not wait for the phone call from my grandparents about my safe arrival. When I got off the plane my grandparents were standing right in front of the gate. I ran to give them hugs and kisses because I was super excited to see them. I was spending a whole week with them alone. Even though I arrived safe and sound off of the plane it was still an hour and a half to their house, which is in Pioneer, CA. Their house was round in shape, made up of ten sides. I always thought this was one of the coolest parts about their house. Once we arrived to their house we called my mom right away to tell her I arrived just fine and everything was going well.
My grandparents were so loving and cared a lot about me, but I had a special bond with my grandma. I learned early on that my mom had a nickname for her grandma, which was Mamo. I decided that I wanted to do the same but I changed it a little bit. Whenever I called my grandma I never called her Grandma June, but instead I called her Mako. This nickname caught on and even her kids would call her Mako instead of mom. On occasion my grandma would refer to me as Darling. I really loved it when she called me Darling because it made me feel very special in her heart and that she cared for me a lot. Having nicknames for each other I think was a start to a wonderful and long lasting relationship. I believe there was a special place in her heart just for me because I was her only granddaughter. Also out of all her grandchildren I was the one who visited the most.
After I talked to my mom we had lunch. I loved lunch at Mako’s because we always had our staple items such as a BLT, cottage cheese and tomatoes, or what may sound very disgusting, but my invention of a peanut butter, mayo, and pickle sandwich. During lunch we always watched their little TV that was on the counter. Often we watched designing shows that my grandma liked or my favorite at the time, Lamb Chops. Even though Lamb Chops was a kid’s show my grandma liked watching it because sometimes we would get ideas of crafts that we could do together while I visited. After watching TV I darted up stairs to their room to find the old suitcase that had tons of things in it. It had coloring books, crayons, little single player games, as well as games that I could play with my grandma, but this particular time I found all this jewelry. So I just sat there minding my own business and started putting things on. I layered on necklace after necklace of all different sizes and colors. “Darling, what are you doing?” my grandma yelled from downstairs. “I thought you were just getting a game.” Keeping quiet I kept putting on jewelry because I didn’t want her to know what I was doing. Then I found earrings and I wondered how I was going to get those on because I did not have my ears pierced at that age. “Aahhha, clip-ons” I said to myself quietly as I found the perfect kind of earrings that would not put a hole in my ear. Little did I know, even though the clip-ons were perfect for putting on they were not that comfortable. Peeking out of their room I yelled down to them, “Mako and Grampa close your eyes I have a surprise to show you.” Now that I had everything on that I wanted, I raced downstairs to show Mako and Grampa what I had been doing because only moments before Mako called for me. They were very surprised at what I had done. They laughed and just thought it was the cutest thing. “Darling, you look very pretty. Is that what you were doing all that time up there in my room?” my grandma asked me. “Yes,” I giggled. My grandpa took a picture and later on that week sent it to my mom showing her what I did the first day I arrived to their house. Now my mom and I are walking out of the grocery store laughing and smiling in remembrance of my wonderful grandma. When we got home from the store we sat down on the couch and looked through the many photo albums that we have of all the times I spent with Mako and Grampa. Can you guess which picture we came across? It was a wonderful day; I can only imagine it now.
My grandma was so willing to do anything that I wanted to do. This is one reason why I believe she was a fantastic grandma. I know many people who dread going to their grandparent’s house, but I just loved it because we always did things and I was never bored. They enjoyed my company and I did theirs. I was not that grandchild that just sat in front of the TV all day long and did nothing, but I actually did things with them. We went into town, which was about 30 minutes away, played games, did arts and crafts, and even played golf. The times I spent with them were valuable and times I will never forget. I hope that someday when I have grandchildren they would have a similar experience. Having the relationship that I had with my grandma mostly and my grandpa as well, is important to any child’s well being.