Grandma Teresa

The post is completely off the point, but still adequate, I hope.

It will be about my wonderful Grandma. Her name was Teresa. A grandma who couldn’t cook ( I am so sorry Grandma, but it is true, forgive me!) and who sang eagerly and relentlessly and ... out of tune; a peace-loving and patient woman, ready to forgo things, but when it was  necessary – also to do them “her own way”. 

Dear Grandma – I dedicate the name of my blog to You.

Today, on one of the radio shows, the host asked his listeners about their “incredible grandmas”. Each and  every grandson or granddaughter was interrogated on what grandma said about sex and what she said about grandpa. Quite disconcerting to be honest, as if sex were a public matter... My grandma never spoke about sex,  about grandpa instead – always with sparkling eyes. It wasn’t in the cards for me to get to know him personally, he died just before I was born. Grandma loved Grandpa more than life  - I’m more than sure of that. It was her from whom I learnt that “you can mourn somebody for always, no matter when they left you”. She loved his neatness and diligence; and I know he used to call her Terrie [Pol. Teresinka, diminutive from Teresa]. And so they were: “Merrie [Pol. Marysinek, diminutive from Marian] and Terrie”, even after their children grew up...

Neither being eccentric, nor having a madman’s soul, she discovered that for true love she was capable of denying her previous life. Grandma fell in love with Marian whose family wasn’t of strong, rich and intellectual roots. Whereas she used to live in a pre-war tenement house, on the first floor [In the US: second floor]...Her parents put her away in the convent where she was supposed to pray and pray (apparently to take “Merrie” out of her head and to receive blessings for the whole family while suffering in peace). But one day, while she was still a novice, my grandma together with Merrie simply ... made off. She went after him to sink into an uneasy everydayness, in spite of all the adversities. Of course it grew to a family legend how Grandma jumped out of the window right into Grandpa’s arms. Another version includes “bedsheets”. Grandma, to some credits, plaited monastic sheet to get out of the cold convent straight into Grandpa’s embrace, of course under cover of the night and in the moonlight . The wind was blowing horribly and it was raining, but she was running to Merrie carried on the wings of love. I’m so proud of my Grandma – she was such a lady! One thing we can be sure of – as soon as she fell into those arms, she stayed there forever. And so did Grandpa, searching no more.

Grandma had freckles and beautiful, thick hair. She wasn’t thin at all. She wasn’t effusive either, and she would never instruct me. I never heard “you mustn’t” from her, instead, she would tell me “you don’t have to do it that way”. I remember it well. She could dissuade people from their dumb ideas in a masterly way.

Sometimes Grandma talked about her vision of the future world. It is her from whom I learned that “soon (it was in the ‘80s!!!), my dear Grażyna, we are going to speak on the phone seeing each other’s faces”. Apparently, Grandma was more than right, it is a pity she only couldn’t realize it. Perhaps then I could focus on more important things than earning my bread and butter …

Grandma used to wear her wedding ring until she died. She would never let us forget Grandpa. She even had her own bench at his grave, just to peacefully sit in silence with her Merrie.

 I always think about her with love and I miss her very much. I hope that she got the same sector as Grandpa in heaven … but she would have managed anyway and “did it her own way”!