Grandma's Wisdom

I was twelve when it happened for the first time,

Well maybe not the first time, but the first memorable time.

Grandma and I were on a road trip. We were gone all summer, our destination was Missouri but we didn't care how long it took to get there. We curved through backroads and stopped at all the tourist locations.

We made up silly stories and jokes on the first days. I handed her sodas from the cooler and documented all the gas station receipts in a little notepad, there were flowers on the front of it.

Grandma insisted her mother was there with us as well because we kept finding frogs in our camper, they were her favorite after all.

We visited her sister in Wisconsin. Her husband nicknamed me Mona Lisa, he told me my smile made me appear wise beyond my age, full of secrets no eleven-nearly-twelve year old should know.

Days and days on highways and backroads, our silly stories turned into serious ones. I told her my thoughts and worries, She told me about her life. What a life she lived.

Grandma never sugar coated anything for us kids, she told it exactly how it was or she didn't tell you anything. She always treated us adults in that matter, no matter how little we were.

I always appreciated that.

Our trip made me understand a lot of things. It became one of the first times my eyes were opened and I saw the world for how it truly was.

Our trip made me understand the kind of person I wanted to be.

I don't think I ever properly thanked her for that.