Portia

Dear Grandma,

You never failed to write a card and send your love. Your birthday is coming up. I think of you quite often. There are several times when I tear up missing you. Every time I look at your daughter, my mother I see you. I look at my shape and thank you. My elbows are ashy right now, lol, if you were here, I am sure you'd comment and I'd run and get some lotion. And every time my bra strap shows, I tuck it away because I hear you telling me to. And I can sleep with the lights off because you gave me that sense of safety. That's actually quite profound now that I really think about that. The dark represents the unknown, you helped me to be fearless in the face of the unknown..in many more aspects of life. You taught me about love of people. You were the best conversationalist. You were the friendliest person...nobody was a stranger. Especially in Chester. You weren't wasteful at all...I still eat everything on my plate. And like you, I conserve paper towels, lol, if I just use them to dry my hands, I'll set it out to dry so that I can reuse it. When I'm too lazy to vacuum, sometimes I pick randoms off of the floor like you used to do. Sundays I wake up and I watch all of the Sunday morning news shows that you used to. And I've even come to appreciate and love my grandfather in a way that I believe that you think would be appropriate. I truly believe that he loved you. I live in your favorite city in the United States. You smelled wonderful, like Obsession mixed with spearmint gum. You are here with me in my hotel room right now, I am sure because you're presence is so overwhelmingly strong.

When I was coming of age, you told me what it means to be a democrat. You told me to always vote democrat. Did you ever think that your legacy would be alive to vote for a black democrat...for President?

Love,
Me
June 2, 2008