Eyebrows Part Five

   The following is part of an original short story I wrote reflecting on memories of my late grandmother:

We always had a joke with my Grandma’s birthday. We all know the stupid birthday song that somehow is always sung upon the presenting of the cake. Well, after “How old are you now?” my Grandma would look grumpily at us and say sarcastically “sixteen,” to which we would reply, “plus sixteen, plus sixteen,” that joke, then she would look even grumpier and hesitate before blowing out the candles, maintaining the grumpy look. She just liked to look grumpy a lot.

She also had major allergies and kept a box of tissues next to her at all times. There was a pile of bunched up tissues all on the table, which was really gross.

One of my favorite idiosyncrasies of my Grandma was the chocolate hoarding. My Grandma loved chocolates of any kind. They just always seemed to be disappearing. The wrappers would appear all over my Grandma’s room, but when it was time to come clean, she blamed my Uncle. But why would he eat chocolates and hide them on my Grandma’s bed. We all knew it was her, she just wouldn’t admit it.

I know my Grandma loved her men. Like I said about her romance novels, the less on the better. I caught her ogling many time, but my favorite was her response to Daredevil. So we had Ben Affleck in a tight leather suit. I walked in and looked and asked, “Grandma, do you know what you’re watching?” She then looked at me and said, “No, but he’s a looker!” It was just the way she said it and the smile that was hysterical. I just shrugged it off, and watched the awful movie with her, despite being a Daredevil fan.

We would take my Grandma out to a restaurant a few times. Upon being seated, she would head for the bathroom. She would disappear for twenty minutes doing who knows what, we never could get a straight answer, but I think I’m better off not knowing.

One time when I was young and staying alone with my Grandma, I started acting up, running around, just annoying things. To which she held up her cane and pointed it at me. “Keep it up,” my Grandma threatened. Let me say, she was good with her cane.

As I said, my Grandma did tell me stories, but not in a place you would figure. My Grandma sat in her recliner, which had a little footstool that I would sit on. It was by the screen door, and the weather was always good for those stories. She also had many great, wise sayings. While this sounds like Spider-Man, she had no knowledge of it: “With great ambition comes great opportunity.” This, like Peter Parker, has been my motto in like. I had the ambition to go to college and I graduated from college, and I know my life still has many great things ahead of me. That sentence has defined my life for seven years, even though I just didn’t realize it. After she died, I graduated high school, I went to college, I was inspired to write, I graduated college, I got help with my medical condition, I made so many friends, I’ve done so much, and in a few years, all will pay off  I can’t say I’ve made my Grandma proud, because I know I’ve already done so. My name may be little now, but my Grandma has inspired me to go big and aim for the stars and I know opportunity won’t knock on my door,, I’ll be storming his castle.

Another favorite of mine was “Don’t think of the should haves, the would haves, and the could haves. Think of the shalls, the wills and the cans.” In other words, don’t think of the past, think about what may still come. Live life not dwelling of the mistakes, do what you can do for a better future.

Yes, my Grandma was very wise. She once told me that “with great ambition comes great opportunity.” This took me years to figure out. Sure we had a superhero whose mantra was “With great power comes great responsibility.” My Grandma said she never heard that, and she wasn’t into those kinds of things, so she said it was original. I only understood it the past few years. But what she meant was, “Try as hard as you can and you will get your reward.” Having just graduated from college, it makes sense. I had the ambition and I have so much I can do now. After all, I’ve written this story that you will be reading now. I’m getting out there, and then there’s so much else I can do in my future. Great things are in store for me. And upon learning this and what I can do in my future, I feel that my Grandma was right, and I wish to make her proud, and I know, right now, wherever she is, she is sending her one of her smiles.