She’s back; reunited with her hubby and her mom.  

Welcome Home Grandma

A weekend of bringing grandma back to Florida and sharing with the girls just how special a place Hallandale was to me and my mom.

We visited her old building; my favorite part the mirrors were still there. 

And so was the mezuzah on her apartment 808 door!

The pool area was like I never left….

As was the shuffle board.

We even made our way into Point East and saw Grandma Mollie’s apartment. 

It was late but even in the dark the Point East pool looked very much intact and as simple as it used to be.  The bay, in the dark, looked even bigger than I remembered!

The mall expanded and even a non-mall lover like me could have spent hours there. It was upscale stores coupled with indoor vendors resembling a farmers market feel.

The walkway to the private beach across the street, while updated, still brought back vivid memories.  We popped out onto the quiet beach for a quick moment, but when it came time to hanging out at the beach, we spent the time at The Hyde’s crowded beach area so we could have beach chairs and towels.

The girls enjoyed being able to get another beach vacation in for the year. 

I would have loved to go to The Rascal House, but the Rascal House went out of business years ago, before my grandma even moved up to Virginia. We ate at Flannigans and Mo’s, which were favorites of Papa and Grandma’s, and both were delicious.  We filled in our other lunches and dinner with new places, that all turned out to be fantastic!  From wood fired pizzas and mouthwatering salads to top notch chicken parmigiana and corned beef sandwiches and tuna salad sandwiches, it was truly a culinary delight.  We have been back six days and I still can’t stop thinking about the food!

We unexpectedly saw one of my grandma’s third cousins, Vinnie and Selma’s son Andrew.  That was a treat!

And we had a short sweet ceremony with just the four of us girls and Stewart. Harper read the Welcome Home poem that Papa left for Grandma as a newspaper clipping in his drawer; the one we framed for her after his death. 

I updated grandpa on the family….below is what I wrote and read:

Papa!  It’s been a while…almost 18 years actually. Though it doesn’t’ feel like that at all.  Your voice is still so vivid in my head…as well as so many memories of us together…from the times you would come to Virginia and the times I would spend in Florida. 

I loved when you would visit twice a year…in March and September, but I think I loved my visits to Florida more.  I loved the routine of it.  You would get up early many days and spend the mornings at the JCC playing racquetball and running…always sporting your sweatband and wristbands…you always worked up a huge sweat.  Grandma many mornings would go to Aerobics.  I love how working out and exercise were such an important part of your routine and you didn’t change your routines when we were there.  Breakfast time was always a favorite routine as well.  Coffee would brew for the adults and a very leisurely breakfast would occur with newspapers spread all over the table, and sometimes the morning news on the small TV in the dining room. Grandma would often stop at Publix on her way home from Aerobics or running other errands…there was never a shortage of cheese or lunch food in the condo. We would spend a few hours at the beach each day….I remember bobbing on your knee in the calm warm waters.  Grandma would often pop over but didn’t go in the water regularly…always being careful of her hair, the hair that was “set” once a week. 

We really did spend a lot of time at the dining room table…from breakfast, to lunch, and to most dinners, when we weren’t eating out at The Rascal House, Mario the Baker, or the latest Chinese food restaurant that was good. Love…there was always a lot of love at that table.  

SO Here is what I wanted to really share….a LOT happened since we all last saw you in 2006.

I’ll start with me, since I’m the one writing this!

In 2007, Justin and I got engaged!  Remember him…you liked him, I think! Well we got married in 2008, had a wonderful wedding…Grandma was there…oh how I wish you were there!  We then had twins Avery and Emerson in 2011 followed by Harper exactly two years later.  Yep, three girls very close in age! And today they are 13, 13, and 11…and they keep us very busy with their different school schedules, and activities from softball, dance, and soccer, and more! You would have adored them….they are pretty amazing. 

Lauren got married in 2017…in Sweden of all places…to Gabriel who is half Argentine and half Swedish! They have two little boys, Noah (almost 6) and Elias (3).  They live in London…Lauren went there 13 years ago for work and never came back…visits excluded.

Mom and Dad had their 50^th anniversary 2 years ago….crazy…they still live in the same house in Vienna.  Both are retired and they help out with the girls a lot. Mom helped with Grandma a lot and saw her multiple times a week from the time she moved up here in 2015 until last year. In 2015, Mom, Stuart, and Perry and Grandma decided she was moving to Virginia (Norman passed away by then so it was best)…anyway, she liked her place initially…she felt it had everything she needed!

Onto Stewart…Stewart and Lynn moved to a new house (surprise) a few years ago.  They also have a condo on the Delaware Shore.  

Ryan married Christine who I think you may have heard about, as they dated in college.  They have two boys…Wyatt (5), James (2) and another boy on the way.  Brett married Jessie; they met in college…William and Mary actually.  They have two girls…Emily (5) and Molly (2).  Katie got married two years ago to Conner.  They all live in Virginia relatively close to one another. 

Onto Perry…Perry and Gail moved about a year ago from California to Las Vegas. They now live by Michael and his wife Darrah (they got married in 2008).  Michael and Darrah have two boys…Tyler (16) and Jenson (11)?. 

Jason still lives in California with his 5 boys…yep!  He has 4 boys with his first wife Alli (you were at their wedding in Santa Barbara).  He has twins (Blake and Brady – 16), Carter (13), and Colty (11).  And he has one more, River (4), with his current wife Gina.

I’ll save you doing the math….that’s 16 great-grandchildren with one more on the way. Grandma got to meet most of them, and know some of them when they were younger!  You would have loved all of them.

Well, Grandma is now home with you….its crazy to think that she lived 17 years without you.  You are reunited now and I hope you are having a blast.  I hope you are doing things together that you loved and I hope Grandma isn’t bustin your chops too much.  

We miss you always and forever!

I also stalked my cousins Facebook pages to print out recent pictures of all the grandkids and great-grandkids for Papa to see and hold close.  And I spoke one more time to Grandma now in her resting place and shared what I had shared with her not long before her death and at her celebration of life in Virginia last year:

“He’s the penis”. 

While my grandma had been speaking gibberish for the last year or so, she sometimes made complete sense with a statement saying “I love you”, “where are you going”, “I’m listening”, “I remember”, “how are you”, or “he is handsome” in reference to a soap opera character. 

Three months ago, I knew her time earthside was winding down and I wanted her to know she was loved, and it was okay to let go.  I went with my mom, Avery, and Harper with the intent of reading her a letter I had written; Emerson joined us later coming from 643 (softball) with my dad.  Upon seeing my dad in her room, my grandma looked at him and said “he’s the penis”.  While I am pretty sure that is not exactly what she meant to say, she clearly knew it was my dad or a man and those are simply the words that came out of her mouth; the girls and I certainly got a chuckle and asked ourselves if we heard what she said correctly! 

Below are the words I read to my grandma, to which several times, I said to her, “Grandma, are you listening?” when I felt like she wasn’t with me and she responded back “I’m listening” or “go ahead.”

******

Grandma – 

It’s been awhile since we have had a real conversation.  I’m not sure when the last one was…5 years ago probably and I am sure you were asking about the girls and what they were up to. You loved to hear about them!

Anyway, I got to thinking and I wanted to share with you…share with you some of the hundreds of memories I have that involve you, and Papa during my childhood.  So in no particular order:

• Walking the wagon across the street to the beach
• Bobbing in warm lake like ocean every summer
• Going to Hollywood beach and picnicking at the picnic benches
• Hanging out at the pool for hours and watching the boats go by. 
• Hanging out in the lobby, checking the mail in the lobby, and riding the elevator to the 8^th floor. 
• Getting the beach chairs from the storage unit.
• Doing kicks in front of your hallway mirror…and checking myself out constantly.
• Your kitchen wall phone cord and you always having conversations with your friends.
• Your twice a year two week visits to Virginia…every March and September like clockwork.
• Going to TCBY as much as we could when you visited!
• Driving back to Florida with you and papa after one of your visits….stopping at rest stops with our cooler of sandwiches to eat our packed lunch.
• You and Papa taking me to Disney World…me wanting to see the fireworks, you not knowing where they were, going on the Dumbo ride instead only to realize that the fireworks were over Dumbo.
• Driving with you to run errands especially Publix and ordering cheese at the deli counter which was sliced each piece separately. 
• Listening to Taylor Dane in the car
• Going with you to your aerobics class…I love watching you through the window in your leotard with all the other ladies. I remember your sweat head band. 
• Waking up every morning and you and Papa would always be at the dining room table, paper spread out, reading the paper or some crossword puzzle action, eating breakfast, drinking coffee. The small kitchen Tv on too!
• Always a jam-packed fridge.
• Having a sit-down lunch daily and discussing at lunch what was for dinner that night.  I always thought that was so crazy and yet I totally get it now!
• Your delicious dinners….peppered steak, some type of chicken, white rice, and salad for you and papa that consisted of iceberg lettuce and a slice of radish.  Oh salads back then!
• Oh and the yellow cushions…they were old and I remember some of them were in better condition than others…how old was I when I finally stopped sitting on them.  Why did we sit on them?  Was it for height or was it so we didn’t spill anything?  Probably the former since they had holes in them!
• Going over the bridge to visit Grandma Molly…walking around the bay at Grandma Mollie’s house, eating Grandma Molly’s rugelach and star cookies.  Why did we not get the recipe?
• Talking to you long distance weekly and always ending the conversation with “I love you”
• Going out to dinners in Florida and Virginia with you, papa, mom, lauren, and me…you always making sure everyone brought a sweater…since you thought every restaurant was freezing….you complaining of your food always being served cold at restaurants…oh how that drove mom and Stuart crazy!
• Going to the movies….always with a sweater! 
• Walking around the Aventura Mall when we visited.
• The time we went out for Chinese Food at House of Mandarin and Papa and Mom split the check in half when they were arguing who would pay it (literally ripped it in half)
• Going out to eat at The Rascal House…eating lots or rolls at The Rascal House.
• Eating a tuna sandwich as takeout from The Rascal House before heading to the airport back to Virginia
• You and Papa coming to see my graduate high school
• You and I talking about our Weight Watchers experience
• Coming to visit you on my spring break with Robyn and you and Papa taking me and my friends out for dinner
• You giving me some of your white seashell necklaces in Santa Barbara at Jason’s wedding
• You coming to my wedding and being so happy for me…you and I both walked down the wrong aisle!
• You coming to visit alone after Avery and Emerson were born.
• Me always sharing something to indicate I was the coolest and you and Papa always absolutely agreeing.
• These are just some of the memories…you and Papa were such instrumental part of my childhood…I always felt so much love from you both. I am so fortunate and blessed to have grown up with both you being active in my life.  26 years Papa was in my life…43 years you were in my life…incredible.  And you not only met, but you knew and loved Justin and my three girls. 
• Papa and you were a great pair…you lived almost 17 years without him, which truly seems hard to believe.  He didn’t live to see any great grandkids and here you are with 16!  3 kids, 3 daughter/son in-laws, 7 grandkids, 16 great grandchildren. 
• Its time…go be with Papa….he left that letter for you…its time that you meet again. 
• I LOVE YOU GRANDMA!! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!