I’m ready to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens. ~ 2006-04-10

I lost my grandma last Wednesday. She went peacefully and was ready to move on to her next place. In fact, she said that she, “Was ready to die she just didn’t want to be there when it happened.”

I was driving with Cara and Kay in NYC on my way to celebrate Kay and Ann’s incredible accomplishment – a knitting book that doesn’t suck one tiny bit – when my mother called to let me say good-bye to the grandma. A harder task does not exist. What do you say, “Have a nice trip?” It helps to know that grandma had a wicked sense of humor and lived her life strongly. I hope to spend some time reflecting on all that she gave me. I hope that this will make it to the blog.

For a small bit of her check out this post on her mad pasta making skillz.

Here she is as a child

My great-great grandparents, Domenica and Antonio with my grandmother Maria Guiseppa, 1925 in Poggio Pigenso, Italy (where the family is from.)
My great-grand parents were named Augustino and Angelica.
My grandmother was called Josephine (English version of Guiseppa) until she graduated from highschool and realized she had two names. She hated Josephine and went by Marie from that point on.

As a mother (there was a third child to come ~15 years later!)

My grandmother Marie Josephine (the english version of her Italian name) and grandfather Vincent (Vincenzo in Italian). My father Michael Angelo (standing) and my uncle Vincent Michael. This was taken in Batavia, NY or Oakfield, NY sometime ~1947.

As a grandmother

Marie Josephine, 2005, 80thBirthday

She rocked.