Columbus Day

I forgot it was Columbus Day, which in the grand scheme doesn't mean much to I think anyone except those that were lucky to have the day off, or unlucky to have their children off and not have work off. That seems to be a common thread.



What I remembered today after someone announced it was Columbus Day was today was my Grandma's birthday while she was alive. Although it really wasn't which has an amusing story behind it. My grandmother was one of three sisters. Grandma was born here [wahlita was pregnant with her on the boat ride over from Spain is how I remember it] but two of the sisters had similar birthdays in October one on the 22nd one on the 12th or was it the 11th? I'm not sure.

At some point there was a fire, and they lost all the documentation and Wahlita [my bad spanish version of great-grandma btw] forgot which birthday went with which kid. So they picked the date and the kid and my Grandma's birthday was forever linked with Columbus Day. At some point in my 20's one of the sisters finally did the work and got new certificates which is when they realized that Grandma's birthday was really the 22nd.

So this is my Grandma Carmen. She's looking pretty spiff in this photo I think. She was in her late teens or 20's but it's one of my favorites of her. I think it was taken at the ranch, the one my great-uncle lived on, not the one my dad still owns. The light on the porch seems to remind me of that place.

Grandma was a tiny woman, spoke fluent [proper] Castilian Spanish which I sadly did not learn. I would love to here her call Wahlita and speak to her on the phone [Wahlita forgot her English in her old age]. She had pretty hands and wore a beautiful black band watch with diamonds around it. She had an Opal the size of her knuckle that she wore often on her right hand with her diamond wedding band on her left that reminds me of something I saw in the window at Cartier a few years ago. This is what I remember of her, mostly her hands. I must have been at eye level with them for a very long time. Maybe we held hands a lot while she was alive. This, this I can't recall. So today not so much Columbus but Grandma Silva. She's still with me though I feel her often.

Happy almost-kinda-sorta birthday

Love,
Richie