An in-flight tribute to the Memory of Grandma Ida
(Getting cranky on-board): I am getting tired of writing on planes, airplane food, and airport lounges, etc, but what do you expect after a second 3-leg trip to the mainland in two weeks?! The good news is that I am almost home (less than two hours left of this 18-hour adventure between airports).* Noriko and I left Honolulu on short notice to attend my grandmother’s funeral in New York. I was touched that Noriko also wanted to make the long trip. I am happy by how accepted she is in the family, although I should not have doubted this.
My Grandma Ida was a special person. Her husband, Charlie, was an inspiration to me of what a good person (or mensch) should be. He died back in 1977, just around my eighth birthday. Ida survived him over a quarter-century. She was quite a character on her own. My cousin Steven wrote an excellent eulogy that captured how precious she was to all of her “Shankeits” (what she called her grandchildren). Ida was born in NY, and acted in Yiddish theater (Ibsen’s’ Hedda Gabler), but always acted everyday with a bubbly enthusiasm. She was active in the Jewish community, Yiddish books, Jewish liberal arts, and loved traveling the world, dancing (tango!) with Charlie, and was an amazing cook (from the days before Nutrition Information). I posted some family photos onlione (before my batteries stopped).
Because Ida was such a truly alive personality; and rarely said bad things about anyone; and because she lived such a full life (91 years!), the funeral was more of a celebration of her life than a very somber occasion. We all feel her loss, but spent almost more time laughing in the company of relatives than we did crying (though there will be time for that too). I have very special relatives too. It was great to see them all. My sister came from SoCal, and cousins (and their spouses and children) came from Boston, Chapel Hill, Atlanta, and New Jersey.
The trip was so short that there was little else to report on besides one nice discovery of some funky things for Noriko at the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Store at SFO, which we found on a 3-hour delay between flights. It is good to be back home.
Tomorrow, I give a paper at the HLA Annual Conference. Then, I should be done conferencing until January.
* The airport avdenture continued as it took Northwest over an hour to get our bags! By that time there were people from 2 or 3 flights waiting for our bags. It felt as if a riot would break out if the handlers took much longer.
My Grandma Ida was a special person. Her husband, Charlie, was an inspiration to me of what a good person (or mensch) should be. He died back in 1977, just around my eighth birthday. Ida survived him over a quarter-century. She was quite a character on her own. My cousin Steven wrote an excellent eulogy that captured how precious she was to all of her “Shankeits” (what she called her grandchildren). Ida was born in NY, and acted in Yiddish theater (Ibsen’s’ Hedda Gabler), but always acted everyday with a bubbly enthusiasm. She was active in the Jewish community, Yiddish books, Jewish liberal arts, and loved traveling the world, dancing (tango!) with Charlie, and was an amazing cook (from the days before Nutrition Information). I posted some family photos onlione (before my batteries stopped).
Because Ida was such a truly alive personality; and rarely said bad things about anyone; and because she lived such a full life (91 years!), the funeral was more of a celebration of her life than a very somber occasion. We all feel her loss, but spent almost more time laughing in the company of relatives than we did crying (though there will be time for that too). I have very special relatives too. It was great to see them all. My sister came from SoCal, and cousins (and their spouses and children) came from Boston, Chapel Hill, Atlanta, and New Jersey.
The trip was so short that there was little else to report on besides one nice discovery of some funky things for Noriko at the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Store at SFO, which we found on a 3-hour delay between flights. It is good to be back home.
Tomorrow, I give a paper at the HLA Annual Conference. Then, I should be done conferencing until January.
* The airport avdenture continued as it took Northwest over an hour to get our bags! By that time there were people from 2 or 3 flights waiting for our bags. It felt as if a riot would break out if the handlers took much longer.
posted by Dr. Drew at
11/11/2005 09:28:00 PM
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