Grandma Ellen’s gift:
My maternal grandmother’s given name was Blanche Ellen Taylor. On her 18th birthday she marched into the DC court, and had her name legally changed to Ellen Taylor, a brilliant move on her part... Her parents had great names; dad was Aubrey and mom was Carolyn. What the hell were they thinking in 1923, naming their poor kid Blanche!?
I had an awesome relationship with her, she loved museums, history, shopping, Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, and harlequin romances… She was a very important teacher of life!
I would spend the night at her place, and we would put on PJ’s, have ice cream and watch TV. She would always fall asleep before the show would end. I learned a lot from broadcast TV, at a very early age! But, I delighted in her company, she would let me drink coffee out of these awesome 1970’s tulip pottery coffee cups, and eat cottage cheese and pineapple.
Her parents divorced when she was really young and her dad retained custody, unheard of in the 20s. Her dad was an editor for the Washington Post and she was his little princess. She knew several presidents, had been to the white house often and told amazing stories. She adored her father, her mother she didn’t really know, but was said to have an itsy bitsy issue with adult bevies. They don’t call it the roaring 20’s for nothing. Kind of ironically, I look remarkably like Carolyn, my great grandmother…. Maybe that’s why I was the pet. I filled a space in time and with love that helped fix her broken place… I was what she had missed, grandchildren are so great, it’s all the fun with almost none of the heavy lifting… You are the precious one...
So that said, when she developed breast cancer when I was in my early 20s, I was devastated… I had already lost so many; all my other grandparents, uncles, my father, step-father, it was a devastating blow… She was as always a trooper, never complained, and we had this awesome relationship. We talked all the time, Saturday mornings we would have coffee early where ever in the world I was. She looooooved Clive, thought he was adorable, and a catch! At one point Clive and I were living in Seattle and she in Myrtle Beach and I would take the red eye to DC have a cup of coffee with my mom, and fly to SC for the weekend, then back to Seattle. I was so young and had so much energy back then, before my body started to fail me.
So Gram had this sweet necklace that she always wore for the last 10+ years of her life. It was a necklace with gold add-a-beads, a St. Christopher, a cross and a Miraculous Medal. She never took it off. She was wearing it when she died. When I flew home to speak at her funeral, Mom gave me the necklace, and I have worn it almost every day since. The beads are gone, the medals look worn, my littlest one, loves the necklace, and since she was a baby; has held it and tugged and asked me what the medals mean, what Gram was like, seen her photos…
So the night before my first born (FB) received his second sacrament of initiation (first Communion for you non-Catholic trivia experts) I was rummaging through my jems and jewels box looking for something and came across three of the same medals; a tiny cross, a miraculous medal Clive gave me, and a small St Christopher I gave Clive… Gram was working her magic, girlfriend needed some love, she was not the center of the whole world for a moment, so I made her a little something… I strung them on an old gold chain and my girl now has her own matching necklace. Just like mine, just like Gram…
We share Gram’s gift. She carries a piece of me, and the gift of Gram all at the same time…. These little pieces, little treasures…. They symbolize our faith and our family.
Gram’s gift.
Love you Gram.