Remember when Grandma and I boogied to “Purple People Eater.” She toppled over on the sidewalk, her bird legs wiggling in the air. We laughed until the snot ran. Remember when the crows left her a diamond ring. She said it was the first real jewelry she ever had.
When I started middle school, Grandma had some kind of problem and gestured to her chest when she talked to Daddy. Her hair looked like a baby robin, and I remember Daddy pushed me away when I tried to hug her. I didn’t understand at the time. I was annoyed at my father.
Remember Grandma let me spend the night so I could go to the 8th grade dance. She thought Daddy was too strict. I know because she turned away to shake her head when Daddy said No.
Remember when Grandma and I spent all Saturday in the kitchen. I had asked to learn how to make Stroopkoeken and Slagroomtaart, but I kept glancing through my phone. Grandma cupped my phone-clenching hand and unwrapped my fingers. Later, lieve kleindochter. No slapping, no sending me home.
Remember junior year when I slept in Grandma’s dormer bedroom because after my father took off, Mom came home late every night. Grandma must have had medical appointments when I was at work, but she never said a word. She hugged me when I got home from school.
Remember when Jimmy and I wanted to get married the week after graduation and she gave us her diamond. By then her recently-grown fluffy hairdo was coming out in the bathroom sink. I never asked her what was going on because I had Jimmy, and we had plans.
Remember that time I didn’t want to show friends the wedding picture of us at City Hall with Grandma because her hair was gone. I was such a shit.
I remember that I sat next to her hospital bed, crying snot all over my grown self, while she held my hand. From now on, I’ll remember what Grandma would do.
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