Throwback Thursday #60: Roadtrip with Gran

"What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance.  They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life.  And, most importantly, cookies."  ~Rudolph Giuliani

In May 2003, I ventured out on a journey. A 6 hour drive from Logan to San Angelo, Texas for Cousin Whitney's high school graduation. With Gran along to ride shot gun. Not everyone gets to take a roadtrip like this....and one year later, Gran would pass away. I count this trip among my favorite memories.

Before we left the house she gave me this big lecture about how her bladder wasn't very good and she was going to have to stop to use the bathroom and if I wasn't going to stop when she needed to she wasn't going. I assured her I was not some driving Nazi and if she had to pee, we could stop!
 

And off we went. When we got to Levelland, Texas, we made our pit stop at Burger King. We headed to the bathroom....where Gran proceeds not to take care of her poor bladder.....but to light up a cigarette. I tell her that she can't smoke in there and shoo her out, cigarette in one hand dragging her walker along in the other.  She finished it on the curb before we hit the road.  (I should tell you that Gran thought she had kept her smoking habit secret for years by smoking on her porch and hiding the hand holding the cigarette whenever the kids went by the house. Unfortunately for her, she didn't have stupid grandchildren.)
 

Once we arrived in Texas, Gran's antics only continued. Cousin Whitney has another cousin (other side of her family) who is a bit (a LOT) OCD. She can't handle anyone touching her food or the dishes that she will use and is really particular about things. Now Gran was a lot of things.....but tolerant of people's crap was not one of them. After the OCD chick pitched some sort of fit in the kitchen, Gran kicked me under the table. I looked over at her and there she sat with the lid to OCD girl's water bottle and she was rubbing her grubby little hands all over it. When she finished, she set it back on the table and watched with pride and accomplishment as OCD girl screwed the lid back onto her bottle. You didn't want to get on Gran's bad side.
 

After the graduation everyone was sitting around at Cousin Whitney's house and we had a toast to her. Gran, ever the center of attention, stood up in the center of the room and announced that she had a toast to make. I was expecting something about the value of education or family or something really deep. I'll be darned if that little old lady didn't stand there in front of the room full of church friends and proudly say, "Here's to those who wish you well. Those who don't can go to hell." That, folks, was Gran-style.
 

If I had the trip to do over, I'd pay more attention. I'd remember everything we talked about for the whole 6 hours. I would have asked her so many more questions about life and love and making decisions. About friendship and travel and grief.  Because if there is any person in the world who I'd like to be like when I'm 80 (or any other age, for that matter), it's my Gran.