Grandmas

When my then boyfriend (now my husband of more than thirty-six years) first met my grandmother she was carrying slingback heels looped over one finger, dressed to the nines (as she liked to say) and swaying a bit. She'd just come back from a convention where, she told me, the drinks started looking back at her. Instead of a highball, she thought she was drinking an "eyeball".

And I'm named after her.

Actually, I'm named after both grandmas--who had more in common with each other than most in-laws do. They were both smokers--they both gambled but in very different games; one played mah-jongg and the other was a poker player with a face so good no one saw her taking their money until she had it jingling in her muumuu, spread out between her knees.
My husband's friends thought she was just the sweetest old lady--until she won $17 in nickels from them.

I miss both grandmothers and my dad, especially now at Christmas.

Both grandmothers died of lung cancer as did my father who was only forty-four when he died. Now I find that I have the opportunity to help other families keep their grandmas and dads (and mothers, brothers,sisters, cousins and aunties and uncles) alive a little longer if they are diagnosed with cancer.

I hope that somewhere, someone's Grandma will live a little longer, with less pain and family around her cancer-free. I hope that someone's Grandma will live to celebrate Christmas with her grandchildren and their parents.

For more information on the State of Hawai'i's Comprehensive Cancer Plan go here.