About a year ago, my grandmother passed away, less than 24 hours before Kanani was born, and Matthew's grandfather passed away about a month and a half later. I just wanted to share a few memories and stories as a tribute and so that these significant events would be recorded in our family journal.
My Grandmother was always known as "Nanaw" to us. Her Name was Verna Lee Bandy and she was born January 15, 1937 in Earlimart, California. Her mother already had 6 other children and suffered with poor health. Her mother, being unable to care for her, had her 2nd cousin adopt my "Nanaw". At the time that she was adopted she was 6 months old, sick with milk poisoning and malnurished, her skin was falling off her and she could fit into a shoe box. During the process of the adoption, the man in charge, asked if the 2nd cousin was sure she wanted this baby and told her she could have a perfectly healthy one. The 2nd cousin replied, yes, this is the one I want.
Well, that pretty much became the story of her life: so many struggles and a lot of sickness, but she had the strength and will to survive, sometimes having to find the strength in those who loved her.
What I know of my Nanaw is mostly what I've learned in recent years. We didn't always have the opportunity to visit my grandparents or talk with my them, but I know that they always loved us. My Nanaw was a very thoughtful person. My grandparents have struggled financially, but every birthday, she would send a card and it would be filled with confetti and a 1 dollar bill. Not just me, but I think several siblings would save those 1 dollar bills, feeling that they were just too special to spend. I bet some of us still have those. When we got older and had kids of our own, she would send us coupons for diapers and baby food.
She loved to play games, especially this game called Forkle. It's a game you play with dice. The last time we visited her, we sat around her kitchen table and took our turns rolling those dice over and over, enjoying the time we got to be spend together rather than the actual game.
My Nanaw had smoked most of her life and eventually got emphazima. She was determined to not let an oxygen tank slow her down. However, her health worsened and she just never got better. There were times that her health permitted her to do things and other times where she ended up back in the hospital. About 4 years ago she was in the hospital and nobody was sure she was going to make it. I was scheduled to go with Matthew to visit his parents in Colorado, but just a few days before our trip, we found out my Nanaw was in hospital and struggling to breathe on her own. My mom, 2 sisters and I went down to Texas to see her. I can remember that she wasn't able to respond much, so my sisters and I sat and held her hands and sang to her. It was the first time I had seen her in years and had really regretted it. It was good to be with her and eventually she recovered enough to go home.
You know, sometimes it doesn't matter how much time you spend with someone or what you do with that person to be able to feel the love that God intended us to feel for that person.
My "Nanaw" lived the best she knew how on this earth and was full of love for us.
I love her and am blessed because she was my Nanaw.
