Yesterday, I was in my local food store when I saw my friend Nanny. Beautiful Nanny, with her big brown eyes and svelte figure, looks about 70 but is actually much older. I hadn’t seen her since she stopped by in the fall. So I yelled over the cash registers “Nanny!” and waved my arm like an idiot so she would see me because I think Nanny is a bit hard of hearing after all those Sinatra concerts. And Nanny looks over to me with a quizzical expression on her face. “I mailed you something yesterday,” I said to her. But Nanny only smiled politely and said she would wait for it in the mail. Nanny didn’t recognize me. And it was such a sad moment there in the middle of the food store. I had heard that, and I quote, “Nanny’s losin it, big time” from an unnamed source, but I didn’t want to believe it.  Nanny, who loves me and my family, forgot. She did her best to make polite conversation with a person who was a stranger to her. She didn’t ask her usual question- “How is Princess Mena?” Because unbeknownst to Princess Mena, Nanny has had her on her prayer list for years. And that was, in fact, what was in the mail to Nanny- a copy of her acceptance into a school that Nanny had prayed with me for for years. She didn’t ask about The Boys or The Big Bad Wolf or when she was coming over for pizza night. She talked about her daughter as if I didn’t know her and her grandson as if I didn’t know him from when he was shorter than me. She forgot that she has wiped tears from my eyes and has enfolded me in her motherly embrace.

But as sad as it was for me, I was happy for Nanny because I think Nanny is happy to be at the end of her eventful life.

Nanny is a very easy person to love. She has a vibrant personality that has seen her through the ups and downs of an interesting life. The best thing about Nanny is that she shares the stories that have made up her life. And what a life she has lived! To look at Nanny, you might not expect that at one time she had a driver and a maid. When she tells you about curlers in her hair on the airplane back in the day “…Because you just didn’t step off the plane in ***** without looking like a top model.”  Or the poverty that she endured. Or the newspaper headlines. Or her adventures in Manhattan. Of her aversion to Islands. Her best decisions. Her worst failures. No subject is off limits with Nanny and she freely shares. Her favorite subject is her friendship with God and the miracles He has given her. We have had some great conversations.

I’ve met so many fascinating people. Some that I just know for the course of an evening or if I’m lucky, for longer.  Every person has a story. I’ve been honored to have listened to so many. One gentleman. who was sharing his experiences of the 1960’s and The Beatles coming to New York and sitting with dying Friends in the ’80’s told me I should write down the stories that I collect. Just leave out the names and share them with the world. Maybe I will one day.

Stories bring me to my original blog post.

Lovelily calls me last weekend to come over and visit her second grandchild, her first granddaughter, born a few days before,

I remember about twenty years ago when Lovelily laughed with joy and relief when I, eight months pregnant (!) told her I was just informed that I was having twin boys. But that’s another story.

A new person to add to our lives. So teeny tiny but already has a story started with her name as the title. She joins my three great nephews and two great nieces. And I will teach her to call me Great Auntie and kiss both cheeks like an Italian and tell her stories about when her Mom was a little girl and how great the ’80’s were. I can imagine all the relatives in Heaven rejoicing as another person is added to the leaves of our family tree. What story will you live Little One? What road will you walk? What talents will you have? Will you love your old Great Auntie? Of course she will! And hopefully as the years pass, she will laugh as she spreads the word that “Great Auntie is losin it!” And that she will figure out that Great Auntie lost it before she ever came into the picture 🙂

Goldilocks