This is my grandmother. She was a kindergarten teacher for most of her life. She wore nice clothes, fed the birds, kept my grandfather out of trouble, and made menus for my friends when I had a sleepover. She probably worried too much.
In the spring, she would take photos of her daffodils and tulips as they popped up in the front yard. She used an awkward film camera most of the time instead of the digital camera we gifted her. I have all of the pictures she took.
She would sit in the grass with me when I was younger. She always stood up from an "Indian style" position without using her hands to push off the ground. When I was in high school, she let my band rehearse Metallica covers in her garage.
She talked to grown adults like they were still her students...they always called her Mrs. Heaton. Her students wrote her letters and made her gifts...she kept all of them.
My grandmother was Nana to me. My grandfather was Papu...he had Alzheimer's when my grandmother died. When we broke the news to him, he said to me, "Take big steps...walk easy".
My grandmother burnt most of the food she cooked because that's how my grandfather liked it. We bought her a Cadillac once, and I wrecked it.
Her daffodils are my daffodils.
