I am looking forward to seeing this new mini-series that HBO has put together because my grandfather fought in the Pacific in WWII. He actually got a nice handful of medals while he was fighting in Saipan, so I will be interested to see what the movie has to offer. Yesterday I went down to Long Island to visit with my Grandma (my kids call her "old granny") who is almost 91 years old. It was her husband, my father's father who fought in the Pacific. Granny isn't doing too well. Besides being a breast cancer survivor, she has had two heart attacks, she now has a pacemaker and suffers from congestive heart failure. But she just keeps pluggin' away!
She has some memory loss and was having trouble placing who I was; she thought my husband was my son and she thought that I was 90 years old! We had a couple of chuckles over some of the things she said! (I must look great for my age! LOL)! But just under the surface of the smiles I put on for her, I felt very sad. When I walked into her house and saw her sitting at her kitchen table eating a bowl of oatmeal, I wanted to cry. She looked so frail - like a little bird sitting there. And she needs help with just about everything she does.
Yet, despite feeling sad for her, I also felt so proud of her! 90 years old is no small feat, and thinking back to all of the things that she has overcome... well, let's face it - Grandma is a trooper!
She had seven children (my dad is the oldest), and she raised them on her own. Her relationship with my grandfather was touch and go, and in that era (the 40's and 50's) there wasn't the divorce rate that there is these days! But eventually, I guess it was too much for both of them and they did split up for good. By the time I was born, my grandfather was living in California and I had only met him a few times. By then, my Grandma had been on her own for awhile, and to be honest, I don't remember too many kind words about Grandpa.
Until just recently I had a hard time picturing the two of them together. But about 2 months ago, my aunt (my dad's sister & the baby of the family) shared some things with me which I now cherish and treasure... and I know for sure that at one time, Grandma and Grandpa were crazy about eachother!
My aunt showed me a box full of love letters that my grandfather sent to Grandma while he was on a ship fighting in the Pacific. They were the most romantic words I have ever read. My father was about 3 months old at the time and Grandpa was not allowed to reveal where he was - only that he was in the Pacific somewhere. But by the things he wrote, you could tell that he wanted nothing more than to be home in New York with her and the baby.
He told her how he dreamed of kissing her and holding Billy (my father) tight in his arms; and how he wouldn't rest until he could lay his eyes on them again. Seeing these words in my grandfather's hand made real to me that at one time Grandma had known true love.
And now, thinking of those letters, all that Granny has been through in her 90 long years, and how I wanted to cry when I saw her yesterday, I suddenly feel not so sad after all. Yes, she has known hardship; she has known poverty; she has known heartbreak and heartache. But most importantly, I know that Grandma has known love. She has lived and loved and has been loved.
Yes, Granny has lived a very rich life indeed.
