Rather odd for a blog post, I know, but my dad’s cousin put this on her Facebook page and it touched me so much I wanted to share it!…her ‘Auntie Dorothy” was my very beloved grandmother, with whom I shared a beautiful friendship and DEEP love…….about 23 years since she died and went to heaven (No doubt about it!), and my eyes just welled up typing that!
Her Auntie Dorothy was born in Eastern Turkey and suffered through the genocide, walking 3 months in the Syrian desert as a 9 yr old, seeing firsthand the genocidal murders, dead people all over the roads and in the rivers, etc……she had a beautiful family life till the Turks came, they were pushed out of their homes, which the Kurds moved into, and their world fell apart…then she went to America to stay with a brother at about the age of 18 and never saw her parents again…! She married grandpa and had my dad and uncle…and raised this cousin who writes below!! I tell you this about Grandma because she had so little education but was so smart……something I wasn’t too aware of was her sensitivity in matters such as that described below (She well understood my cousin’s mother and did not (shall we say) ADMIRE her!…and make no mistake, my cousin’s mother meant what she said in the very worst way)
Here goes….ENJOY:
My Auntie Dorothy was the best. I lived in her house for 13 years. Actually, she put up with me for 13 years…
One day, when l was about 9 or 10 years old, l told her that my mother always said the worst day of her life was the day l was born.
“Yes, that’s true,” she said.
“Really?”
“Yes, really,” she answered. “You were born on December 21st…It was snowing and blowing and freezing…But that made no difference to you. We were lucky we didn’t get killed driving your mother to the hospital. It was one of the worst days of my life too.”
“Oh, l thought my mother meant something else,“ l said.
Then Auntie Dorothy pulled my pigtail and said, “You think too much! Go set the table and remember the forks go on the left.”
For sure, Auntie Dorothy was the best. (end)
She was right…Grandma WAS ‘the best’…and I loved recently hearing this story for the first time.
Got any GRANDMA STORIES you’d like to share?
Z
geeez2014
GeeeZ .... 
I didn’t get to know mine. My paternal grandmother was also a victim of the Genocide by the Turks. My maternal grandmother died when I was about 2 or 3 so I barely remember her. Its sad we didn’t get to have them both for awhile so we could enjoy some happy memories. Life isn’t always fair.
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Mal, that is sad….I ADORED my grandparents, all of them. and I was lucky enough to know one great grandmother who survived the genocide, too. They were great people, those Armenians who went through so much and came to America not with open hands looking for freebies but with open hands looking to work, speak English, and raise kids with a better future. And they DID!
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One died when I was quite young. The other was far away. I never knew her well, and she was such an ‘old’ lady to me. I didn’t know until after her passing she had suffered 2 major traumatic brain injuries (one at 5, and one at 48) that permanently altered her neurology functioning. She was ‘slow’ and ‘different’ from her sharp, zippy sisters and mama. My brother and I poked a little fun at that, and my mother bristled. SHE remembered the difference before and after the attack at age 48 that really damaged her. At about age 79 she finally stood up to my autocratic grandfather and allowed my aunt to have electricity installed in their home, which also brought a telephone into the home in the 60’s. Sturdy, reliable, hardworking, Christian. That all came through, though.
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Baysider, glad your mother stood up for what your grandma really WAS!
I thought what my grandmother said was so beautiful, so encouraging and understanding that many of you’d like to read it……………
Will post something else 😦
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No, I won’t! READ IT, it deserves reading and comments! 🙂
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Your story reminds me of a Guy de Maupassant type story, where misunderstanding leads to a life of hardship. She’s fortunate to have been set straight and shown not dwell on it. THAT was a great example to set for moving on. What snowflakes today need more of.
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It was an amazingly wise way to cheer a child with a really horrid mother…Very proud of my amazingly dear grandmother. She was fortunate to have an evasion from the truth make sense and entertain it as truth.
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