聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 The other day I was sitting in the office, typing, when Cindy walked in with a short news submission from Ida Brownridge, who used to be a correspondent for the paper from Arcola for 15 years.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Ida is now nearly 94, and included in her fun submission was that at 90-years-old she had gotten a tattoo courtesy of her grandson, Carroll Brownridge with Farmhand Tattoo in Arcola.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The note made me smile and think of my own grandmother. Last year she passed away in November and thinking of her still brings tears to my eyes. I miss her a lot. It wasn鈥檛 that I called her on the phone often, but when I鈥檓 reminded of her now, I鈥檓 reminded that she鈥檚 gone. It鈥檚 not a bad thing, in fact a lot of times it reminds me of funny moments with her, which includes a conversation about tattoos, which Ida鈥檚 note reminded me of.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Granny was 90 when she passed away, so just the right age for a tattoo it would seem by Ida鈥檚 fun little submission.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I can鈥檛 remember how long ago now that we got onto the subject, but I do remember it was just her and I sitting and chatting. She spotted the one on my arm and proceeded to ask, 鈥淲hat is that?!鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I explained it was a tattoo and that in fact I was thinking about getting another one, to which she scoffed and shook her head like I was crazy.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I laughed and told her that I was pretty sure the majority of her grandchildren had at least one.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 She thought about that, 鈥淏ut why do you like them?鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲ell, I really like how it鈥檚 an artistic expression of yourself and your life,鈥� I said, then I let Granny have a closer look at my arm, which had three stalks of wheat tattooed onto it, the one that had caught her eye, oddly enough a piece Carroll did for me.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 She nodded along with explanations of my three tattoos before deciding, 鈥淵ou know what, if I were younger, I bet I would have one too.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Haha, Granny with a tattoo! Maybe Oma, but Granny? Nope, never!
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Being her favourite grandchild <-just checking if my sister and cousins read my column鈥� haha. I told her she could in fact get a tattoo of something that reminds her of me! I even said we could go together for matching ones if she wanted.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But, this was to no avail; she just chuckled and said, 鈥淥hh, Kelly; I鈥檓 too old for that.鈥� The 鈥淥hh, [insert name here]鈥� was usually reserved for those pesky trouble makers like my dad or my sister, so I laughed that I had gotten an, 鈥淥hh, Kelly;鈥� I guess she decided I was turning into a trouble maker like those two.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 If only I would have known Ida had gotten one at 90, I could have told my Granny it wasn鈥檛 too late!
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, I鈥檓 hoping Ida reads the newspaper each week, because I want to say, thank you. You helped to bring back the memory of that funny exchange between my grandma and me. I know you didn鈥檛 intend to bring me to tears when you wrote it, but it鈥檚 funny how memories can come flooding back, sparked by something to randomly come across my desk.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Carroll鈥檚 working on a piece for me now, in memory of my grandma, so I guess it really is a small world for all of that to be related.
