We Love and Miss You, Grandma!

I am still recovering (if that is ever possible) from the events of yesterday. Yesterday I lost my grandmother, the only one I ever knew. She was a major part of my life since I was little and she continued to be part of my children's life as a vibrant and loving great-grandmother.  While I want to share a lot more about my memories with her, I will have to do that another time when I can think straight.  So for now, please read a little bit more about her from my sister's perspective.  I really feel like it captures her essence. In fact, so much of what Hadassah says was mentioned at her funeral.

Guest Post by Hadassah Levy:
"It seems callous to write a status update saying my grandmother has passed away. But it is also impossible to continue to interact with all of you on a daily basis without mentioning it - and this is true even of those of you I have not met in person.

When I was a kid, I assumed that everyone's grandmothers were like mine. As I got older, I realized our grandma was unique. I used to argue with her about whether or not she was old; no matter how many times she told me how old she was, I never saw her as an old woman. I could take my friends over to her house and they enjoyed it just as much as I did. We went to movies together, shopped for clothes, and did other errands my parents weren't available for. If the weather was bad and she knew my father wasn't home that day, I didn't get far in my walk home before she appeared to give me a ride home. She always told us that if we needed her to fight our battles with our parents she would be on our side.

It has been many years since we have lived in proximity to each other, but she was always on the other end of the phone for some fun exchanging of news. There was nothing she liked better than to hear the exploits of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She also considered her grandchildren's spouses to be her grandchildren and would introduce them that way to anyone she ran into when they were with her.  Whenever we visited, the first stop after reaching my parent's home was always her house and I will never forget the excitement of surprising her for her 86th birthday (well, almost surprising her...)

It is hard to imagine life without Grandma in it, and hard to be so far away from everyone at this time. I wouldn't exchange living in Israel for anything, but wish I weren't 6000 miles away right now."