When you think of a Grandmother, you picture a sweet little lady with the looks of Betty White. Maybe she loves to bake cookies, or pies, or maybe she loves to play bingo down at the church on the weekends. What you usually don't think of is a dirty minded, extremely opinionated, fierce & fearless woman. Unless you are me of course, because my Grandmother, excuse me, my Nanny was not your typical grandmother. She was hell on wheels and that's what I respect most about her.
My mother was a teen mom (not the mtv version) so my Nanny was still pretty young when I entered the world. Since she was so young she insisted on being called "Nanny" and certainly not "Grandma." If I slipped up and said Grandma for any reason she would interrupt me and say something along the lines of "Excuse me, lets get one thing straight. I am Nanny not Grandma." I guess she really valued her youth and who could blame her for that?!
No matter how unconventional she may have been, I never questioned her love for me. It didn't matter that she was a complete bad ass, she showed me how important and loved I was every day. She also made sure I knew some really important things about life like, "never look in the mirror while tripping on acid" or "check the back seat of your car before you get in because there may be a murderer back there." (If your curious, no I never actually needed the acid lesson, but it was there just in case.)
My Nanny was so awesome she married a thirty something year old man when she was sixty five! That was not only good for her but fun for me because he hated it when I called him Grandpa, and I found it to be pretty freaking funny since he's only got about 10 years on me.. haha
As you can see, my Nanny was anything but your typical Grandma and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. She showed me that I could be a bad ass too and that I didn't need anybody elses approval to be me. She encouraged me to do what I loved, and taught me that your never too old to be awesome.
My Nanny passed away yesterday. We knew it was coming but it didn't make it any easier. I will miss her more than anything! I cannot imagine living the next 40 - 50 years without her. I am so sad and so selfish because I don't want her to be gone. It makes me sad that I will never see her smile again, I will never singe her a song again, and my daughter will never really know her because she is too young to really remember a lot about her.
Regardless, she will always be in my heart. I will never forget her. She mad an impact on me that will shape future generations forever.
Rest in Peace Nanny, I love you.
