Today my Nagymama past away. I have no pictures of my Grandma, she always said save the film for the beautiful people, like the kids, not an old ugly woman like myself. We would try to take her picture, usually ended up with hand in front of face shots.
My Nagymama would wait at the top of 13 flights of stairs. She would peer down the shaft, looking over the rod iron railing, smiling as we climbed luggage in tow. The familiar smell of the 100 year old building would remind me of her long before I reached the top to hug her and smell her clothes. A smell of cooked food, and hair spray from the salon she got her done at right before. She would be covered in tears by the time we got to her. Happy tears of joy as my mother, her daughter, would reunite for their once a year visit.
It was the same scene each and every year I can remember. Staring out, my mom carried me the 13 flights. Her a beautiful 21 year old mom visiting her mommy since moving away to Canada to start a life of her own. But she never really fit in to Canada, and was riddled with home sickness. She worked and saved every penny to have longer and longer visits with her mom.
As the years turned over, my mom became the mother of teenagers, and I would race her up those stairs and would kiss my Nagymama's cheek before she got there and make my way in to the comfort of our Hungarian home. Now, nearly 40, and I carry my kids up the same stairs to visit my Nagymama
Nagymama has seen me at our worst, best and finally my very best as a mother of two. She took care of us, and slowly over the years we took care of each other and then finally we took care of her.
She lost her husband very young, and recently her only son.
There's been many adventures up and down those stairs. Fights with lovers, rain drenched outings with groceries in tow, and even robbers coming in at night. And every time the door opened, my grandmother would meet me with the same smile, the same tears in her eyes, and even the same purple coloured apron that I got to know.
I knew her smell, I knew her face, and loved her for exactly who she was. My mothers world. My mother's best friend. The same relationship I hope to have with my daughter.
