There are losses in life that affect you daily and those which only rise up on occasion to remind you of time’s passing.
Last week I felt returned to childhood, if only for a moment, daydreaming in the sun about summers at my grandma’s. It was odd how the memory returned, to be honest. I walked into my bedroom to grab my swimming suit and I swear I could smell Chanel No. 5 — my grandma’s signature perfume.
Of course of all places in our home this area of the room is the most likely to trigger her memory to me. A music box with the Blessed Virgin Mary and infant son sits on the mantel next to another figurine of Mary, which my grandmother kept on her nightstand.
As many of my memories of my grandmother are of holidays, cooking, swimming, shopping and laughing, the others are of her deep faith and devout practices in the Catholic faith.
So when my brother and I were sent to spend summer days swimming at her house, we also knew we’d spend Saturday evenings at Mass and leave grandma to herself to say her Rosary by night.
I enjoyed going to a big city church in Des Moines and holding hands with my grandma. Unlike my parents, grandma was inclined to sneak out of church following communion. This allowed for us to get out of the parking lot quicker and miss the traffic, which I suspect was her ultimate goal. When I took my son to the same parish several months ago we indulged in early dismissal, if only to let him have that experience once.
As the result of age and an eye condition that eventually claimed her sight, my grandmother moved near my parents years ago. Despite her move, I remember precisely where everything in her home was from a rotary phone that hung too long on her kitchen wall, to a stack of newspapers that sat next to her chair. Sometimes I walk through the rooms in my head and remember each piece.
I remember the way it felt to enter her air conditioned home with a sunburn, and sitting wide-eyed in front of cable television, eating a sandwich and chips on a paper plate.
My grandmother’s birthday was July 7, which typically extended our Fourth of July celebrations or called for another party all together. As an identical twin who was raised with nine brothers and sisters, we’d sometimes host larger lunches with extended family. One of her last birthdays took us to North Carolina where my uncle has a lake home. With some effort, we got her on the pontoon boat. She wore a wide-brimmed sunhat and a life preserver and at times you could see that she felt young again.
Grandma passed away nearly three years ago; this year would have been her 92nd birthday.
Perhaps it was the warm weather that triggered some of my favorite memories of grandma, or perhaps it was a call to become more steadfast in my own faith. It was good to reflect in thanksgiving for a childhood with a loving grandmother. If you’re lucky enough to still have one, give her a call. Better yet, spend a summer day with her.
Contact Abigail Pelzer at 641-792-3121 ext. 6530 or apelzer@newtondailynews.com