Departure to Fairyland

Dear Dorothy,

Today we buried you. The sun was shining and the paths around the cemetery were busy with Montrealers welcoming the Spring. The crunchy white snow covered most of the plots but yours was full of rich moist brown dirt. Your finally resting spot is beautiful. It was a stroke of pandemonium luck that brought me to North America and your bedside at just the right time. You would have smiled and nodded enthusiastically if I told you the story. You were always there to smile and laugh for me. You were a gentle caring kind person and I was lucky that you were also my grandparent. You life was not a story of grandiosity but one of simple meaningful and beautiful gestures. A cup of warm milk tea with honey cake. A yiddish lullaby. Jokes for rambunctious great grandkids. Once when I was young I decided to welcome the new year by watching the sunrise at our local park. Though I often went to the park early in the morning alone - you were livid. Rather than stopping me the next morning I found you dressed and ready to go at the front door. We crept out silently and watched the sun rise together on the bleachers of the baseball diamond. Nothing phased you. Last year when I came to visit you jumped around the couches with the kids. Though you were frail, you insisted we go out for breakfast. The weather was unkind and an unexpected thaw turned the streets into vast rivers of ankle deep slush. I held your hand and said we would jump as best we could. You blinked once but then you jumped. We didnt make it far enough but you walked into the restaurant unfazed showing us off to the waitress. Your love never came with any conditions or guilt. If I was too busy to visit you would call to see if you could come help in any way. In your last years you were zen though you didnt know it. If I turned up and let you know I got a big tattoo of a dragon on my right bum cheek you would have smiled, said 'Mazel Tov' and asked to see it so you might comment on the art ‘thats well done isnt it?’ (I have no such tattoo unfortunately) And isnt it so fitting that the whole world is falling apart without you. You slipped away so peacefully despite the chaos around you. I always hoped you might live forever, but, you often discussed your own coming end with ease and a shrug. Thanks for always jumping in the slush with me. You were everything I could have ever wanted in a grandparent and hopefully one day I will be the type of person who stands waiting at the door before dawn to watch the sunrise with my grandchild.

Best dressed life guard

She would have been good at Tetris

We buried you with sunshine and rainbows and a layer of icing on top