Ten Years Gone

I don't normally post on the weekend, but I wanted to share this.

Ten years ago today, my maternal grandmother passed away. From her, I inherited a love of sewing, knitting, and crochet, and if reports are to be believed, the bulk of my personality traits.

Sadly, she lived 2,000 miles away in Canada, and I only got to see her once every few years. She had a really thick accent, so in high school I took French so that we could communicate better. She died just after my freshman year, just as I was finally able to carry on a brief conversation in the language.

One of the few items I was able to keep after the passed away was a Canadian flag she had stored in a wooden box. The box was damaged and had to be thrown away, but the flag was in perfect condition. It hung in my dorm room all through college, and when I began doing study abroad trips it became a tradition to buy a flag from every country I visited.

I re-did that maple leaf four times before I gave up. For some reason that red takes forever to dry when I use it plain, but it won't stay wet long enough when I try to freehand. I had better luck with the Quick-Dri.

I bawled all through her funeral and had to stay in the car during the burial. But as we were driving back to the hotel, through the streets of St. Jean, I remember thinking, "I'm home. Despite all of this bad stuff that is going on, I'm home." It was that moment that started my obsession with Canada, and sparked my desire to one day live there.

There is a song that always makes my mom and I think of her. It's one of those things where she would either laugh her head off if she heard it, or be really offended. When I got my license the year after she died, this song was playing every time I started the engine for six months. When my mom and I went out, we heard it in the shops or in the car. Now, ten years later, it never fails to play on our sound system at work when I am having a bad day. It's an older song now and doesn't tend to get as much air time, but every time I think of her I hear it playing somewhere shortly after.

Mom and I decided she likes the song.

Rest in Peace, Grandma:



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Colors used:
Pure Ice "Siren" (red)
Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party" (white)
Pure Ice dries too quickly for freehanding, so I used Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in "Diamonds and Rubies" for the maple leaf.