It's as if life is a jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes you lose pieces, their edges bend, or it's just an ugly sight upon completion. But it's there. Staring at you. Do you preserve it and hang it on your wall like my mother did with all of her 392 Wysozki puzzles? Or do you break it up, shove it back in your box, and put it up in the hall closet, only to pull it out again when there is nothing on tv, you can't sleep, and the 3rd bottle of wine is calling your name.
My Grandmother passed away yesterday and in lieu of the tragic event, my sister and I banded together for emotional support. Trying to decide how best to contribute to her memory, I started thinking...
My Grandmother was the strongest person I know. She raised her brothers when her mother passed away (Grandmother was only 12!), worked hard to survive, taught (she always told me she was terrified because she had no training), and even had time to sneak a pair of pretty shoes in her closet now and then. Grandmother moved on to marry a good man with whom they had 5 children. My Grandmother was a TROOPER! She didn't shove her jigsaw puzzle back in the closet. She met it with a challenge, never once complaining or freaking out, as I am well known for doing... She sacrificed her needs for her family, never ever putting herself first.
When we traveled around the world growing up, my Grandmother came along. Why, I don't know because my sister and I were rambunctious children who were not easily amused with the back seat of a rent a car, especially when my mother drove. Come to think of it, one time we were in France and my mother totalled a rent a car in a motorcycle parking space trying to PARK THE CAR. My Grandmother calmly took me and my sister to the other side of the parking garage while my mother mercilessly butchered the right side of the poor car into the cement over and over again trying to get out. That is a jigsaw puzzle in itself.
She had so much to teach us, lots of genuine life lessons.
- She read books like nobody's business, making her as sharp as a tack (and escaping reality...a good mental vacation!)
- Grandmother never learned how to drive a car, ironcially growing very close to my mother and Aunt Paula knowing their love to shop was as strong as hers. Somehow trips to WalMart or the Post Office always turned into day trips visiting 'fun' stores like Marshalls or Barnes and Noble.
- She knew how to be thrifty when it counted. Her perfectly curled hair would go flat as a pancake in the rain, so she always put a plastic grocery sack over her hair when she went out. Hysterical!
- Food can taste good if you cook it properly, but it takes a pretty plate to really set the stage. She started the plate collecting craze that affected my parents' kitchen cabinets, my Aunt Sharla's cabinets, and my Aunt Paula's. Sarah and I have also inherited the "Plate People" gene. Clothes can come in go in style, but never plates!
My Grandmother's Final Jigsaw Puzzle was completed June 30, 2011. Her memory will forever be mounted in the Hall of Fame of our minds. The most beautiful, sweet, angelic puzzle that ever was will always be remembered. I love you Grandmother.
