Happy Birthday, RoRo
My grandma RoRo is now 88 years old. She was born Rose Anne, I suppose. Every time I’ve asked her about her name, she dissembles. But she goes by Anne. The very first “grandchild” [Not so. I am the first grandchild] called her RoRo. It stuck.
It’s been a very tough year for her so far. I got very sick. Then she fell and broke her hip/leg, had surgery, did physical therapy, etc. Now she has a torn meniscus. Her sister Mary died less than a month ago. Her other sister’s Alzheimer’s disease is very frustrating for Ro. Family MONEY SHIT is now GOING DOWN. The evil side of the family is making a play for the family fortune. Lawyers. The whole shebang. This is and will continue to be a very painful thing for RoRo to endure.
RoRo is one of those women who never allowed the apron strings to be cut. She has two sons and has managed to maintain her position in the center of her sons’ worlds all this time, to the chagrin of their wives. She can be vain, selfish, manipulative, and self-pitying. She is also one of the most generous people I’ve ever known. Over the years she has given me fantastic gifts, including fine jewelery and a new car when I was 18. (I have come to realize that her “love language” is gift giving.) When I was a girl, she indulged my love of pink things–until I told her I was over pink. She let me have birthday parties in her swimming pool. She took me to Gunther’s ice cream. She attended all my high school plays. She bought Christmas gifts for my boyfriends so they wouldn’t feel left out during the holidays. She wrote me letters (and sent money) all the years I was away at college, and I believe she is not inherently a letter writer. She shares my love of plants and flowers and looks forward to the next time we can go to the nursery together. She recently proudly showed me an orchid plant in full bloom that I gave to her four years ago. She dotes on my sons, and would dearly love it if Lucas would pay a little more attention to her and if Asher would lay quietly like a little newborn so she could gaze into his face.
Tonight we are going out to Frank Fats for dinner to celebrate her birth. I love her to pieces, for all her quirks.
June 23, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I love learning more about RoRo and the kind of woman she is. I’ve always gotten the impression she is a central figure in your family. And when I think that she’s known you at every stage of your life I boggle a little, too. Sending love.