She Said: Passing of a Matriarch

Last week my grandmother of 88 years passed away.  The past few days have been full of memorial services and family gatherings, so I thought a post reflecting on the maternal generations would be appropriate…

When I was little, my grandmother watched me while my parents worked. I have memories of her teaching me Italian, and instructing me in the domestic ways of the kitchen and her sewing room.

I will always remember my grandmother being proud of me.  It was clear from the way she shared us with her friends and supported our talents. Truth be told, I also learned a number of difficult lessons from my

grandmother and her Old World ways, but those lessons helped shape the person I am today, and I now can embrace them.  She never understood why I waited so late in life to get married (32) but I’m thankful that she held on long enough to understand why I waited for the right guy, to watch me walk down the aisle, and to see her great-granddaughter.  All in all, I know that she loved me even when she was tough on me and I’m thankful for the things I’ve learned and the traditions my cousins and I now have to carry on.

So as the maternal matriarch passes on, I now look to my mother and the bond she is forming with our daughter.  It’s a beautiful thing to see life come full circle: now my mother watches her granddaughter while I am at work.  Though Cara isn’t yet old enough to learn the secrets to the best pasta sauce on Earth or be comforted by my mom’s pastina, it means the world to me to see my mother teaching her and nurturing her and it fills the time I’m away with a specific and meaningful purpose.

Being a parent, even a new one, makes you look at family in a whole new light.  As working parents, it’s tough to find time to fit everything in but I realize now that while I’m away at work and Cara is spending time with her grandmothers it’s allowing time for her to develop her own special memories.