On Friday April 24 we found out my grandmother had passed away. Wow. SO unexpected. Friday afternoon we gathered at her house in Wellesley and remembered her (and raided her kitchen for perishables- like coffee and chocolate). In the last few weeks the word that keeps coming to mind to describe her is GENEROUS. I look all over my house and see things that came from her. From the crackers I just fed my kids for snacks to the pink shirt she once gave me off her back when I said I liked it, to the mattresses my kids are sleeping on. Growing up we didn't see her that often. She was busy working full time and we leaved in DE. I do remember visiting her apartment in NYC once- she loved that place! And seeing her in Canaan where she actually taught me how to cook potatoes and a well underdone roast:) During my senior year of college I had a car and at least once a week (more in the spring semester when she lost her license after an accident) I would head over to her house to help with errands. We would sit at her kitchen table and she would try to feed me- tea, coffee, english muffins, cantaloupe. She would drink her thick juice and be marveled that I knew how to make eggs:) I would help cut her flowers and replenish their vases. We started updating her address book. We filed papers. We kept the laundry going. Water plants she said had been alive from her sister Barbara. Change the CDs in her CD player. When she lost her license for a few months I would take her to the Y for her swim lessons followed by a stop at Dunkins for a late. Or head to Walgreens to get all the deals she had clipped. I would never leave empty handed when I headed back to campus. When I turned 21 she took me to Blue Ginger for lunch and bought me my first Vera Bradley Bag. When I got married and visited, we continued to do all the odd and end tasks she needed done- along with lunch out somewhere. She would send us off with a stockpile from her "store"- paper towels, detergent, soap and more! Last June our family attended our Wellesley Reunion- her 60TH! I am so glad we all went and marched in the campus parade. After we had Bertucci's at her house and she showered my kids with AMAZING clothes. She loved to shop. And get a good deal- almost all of them had been marked down and I am SURE she used a coupon too. I will miss her coming later on Christmas Day and sitting in "her" chair at my parents house handing out her random presents. One year I got a tooth brush and a turtleneck. This year a check that helped us buy our kids mattresses. You just never knew for sure what you would get:) She sent Olivia and Isaac each a birthday card and a Harry and David fruit basket for me just these last few months. I wish I had picked up the phone when she called last week during a visit to my parents. But alas- i did not. I am glad to have known her. It wasn't always easy to be her grand daughter but I loved it.
Her official obituary is here:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?pid=174790986
But I think it couldn't capture all that made Charlotte, the amazing Charlotte she was.
Today is Thursday May 14 and I wanted to update a little more about Beebe. Last Saturday I headed to her house in Wellesley (without the kids!) and joined my family, aunt and uncles and cousins to start going through SOME of Beebe's belongings. The brothers went through and made a list of the Big furniture type stuff - what was there and who gets what. While the "women" went through her closets... CLOTHES!!! Beebe LOVED clothes! I wish I had taken more pictures or kept count better of all that we went through. Countless black dresses. Sweaters. the same shirt in different colors and sizes. JEWELRY. I packed my car. And i only took one third of the stuff... Shampoo. Anti Wrinkle creams. Movies. two of the silly but most exciting things I took were her unopened but complete set of "Sex and the City." and BUTTONS.
