A death in the family

I apologize to my loyal readers for light posting this week. My grandmother passed away a few days ago, just a week shy of her 90th birthday. In addition to my normal work crunch during midterms, I'm trying to deal with some of this stuff, which will include a trip to New Jersey for the funeral next week. It's a bit crazy.

For what it's worth, my Nana Shirley was a remarkable woman. She started her own clothing shop in the mid-1950s, when it wasn't particularly fashionable for middle class moms to be working outside the home. She ran that business until her retirement in the 1990s. Many of her customers are still alive and remember her well, and they plan to attend next week. She was widowed in 1981 but found a boyfriend about ten years later whom she dated for at least a decade. Her apartment was always clean and neat, and she was always impeccably dressed. She pinched cheeks way too hard. She made fantastic tunafish and rugelach. She drove drunk. She loved Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli, and Julio Iglesias. She taught me how to play bridge.

That doesn't come close to summing up a life, but those are the memories I'm sorting through right now.