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my grandparents .... :)

She pulled up in the lot and parked. Then walked into the visitors center. It was a grand building full of history. The walls were covered with the details of the famous who lay in rest there. She made her way to the pass desk.

“Name of family member and date of death?” the clerk asked.

“Her name was Bernice Elizabeth Knost and she died Nov. 17, 1995.”

Had it been that long? The family pilgrimage back east for Thanksgiving had been just around the corner but grandma couldn’t wait. Grandma was called away too soon, she thought.

Pass in hand, she made her way back to her car and up the narrow sloping roads to one of Arlington National Cemetery’s oldest sections. She stopped and got out crossing the carefully manicured lawns to the white stone marker signifying the resting place of her grandparents.

On one side, her grandfathers military achievements were fully listed. She read them all carefully trying to imagine the man she had never met. He too was taken too soon leaving a wife with 16 and 2 yr old sons to raise alone.

She lingered much longer on the other side though. It simply listed her grandmother’s achievement as “His Wife”. Those two words couldn’t possibly sum up all she knew about such an important person in her life.

In the mid-day sun, she reminisced. A flood of scattered memories cascaded over her.

Standing out on grandmas porch to wave at the freight trains as they passed by.

Coming back to grandmas for plastic spoons to dig under the pine trees around the Mason Lodge
… across those tracks…grandma had fits about that!

Walking down the trail, previously the train tracks, to grandmas house whenever she needed to escape her parents. Grandma always swore their secret was safe with her, but she knew the minute she was distracted with cookies and milk, grandma would call to let all know she was safe.

Recalling a Thanksgiving long ago. Her little sister had decided to cut her hair, in an reverse Mohawk! There was only one option at that point, shave it all off! Grandma took one look at her smallest, now bald, granddaughter and headed for the kitchen. Dad followed her and found her over the sink peeling potatoes. She sobbed over and over again, “It’s alright, it will grow back”.

Gardening with grandma. She loved flowers, mostly purple ones. Her yard was an explosion of purple iris every summer. She worked at a family owned flower shop until she could no longer work. The florist loved when the granddaughters visited. He would let each pick a flower from the refrigerated case. She always picked a purple one, for her grandma.

Vacationing at Ocean City. Grandma was their chaperone. They couldn’t rent the condo without adult supervision. So much for supervision. Grandma took them to dinner then dropped them off on the boardwalk to wander freely for hours every night. She was every teens dream chaperone.

Memories faded as the clouds moved in. It looked like a storm was headed her way so she said her goodbyes and made her way back to the car.

Yes, grandma was “His Wife” but, she was so much more, she was a strong woman. As she left , she felt the strength of her grandma’s spirit follow her. She hoped to, one day, have harnessed just a bit of it for herself.