Yesterday morning, my phone rang at 7:30. It was my uncle, calling to let me know that my grandmother had just passed away. I didn't have much of a reaction, really...I mean, when someone has been in your life for almost 40 years, and had been alive for almost 57 years before you came into being, it's a hard thing to really grasp. I think, even though I'd been expecting the call, my reaction was more to the grief in my uncle's voice than anything. My grief will come later.
My grandmother was an amazing woman. At a young age, she and her family sailed to the United States from Armenia. (I once selected a piece of music for my students to sing because it was based on an Armenian lullaby...perhaps this would be a good year to sing it again, in tribute.) They came with jewels sewn into their clothes, the only safe way to travel with any assets...and when they got to New York, they used the jewels to open a jewelry store on Fifth Avenue.
I remember a story that she told me once about famed musician Artie Shaw, who was a long time customer of theirs, buying a beautiful necklace for a woman he was seeing. Before he picked it up, their romance ended...but he bought the necklace anyway. Each time one of her sisters passed away, an inheritance of jewels was passed on to my mom.
So this week, as we celebrate the (hopeful) beginnings of one life, we also celebrate the longevity of another. We begin the process, and I am sure it will be a slow one, of closing someone's life...filing paperwork, cleaning and selling her house, dividing her belongings, finding homes for her pets.
In the dreariness of it all, I raise my invisible glass to you, Virginia Desteian Di Giacomo. You were an amazing person to know...and to love. Rest in peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment