My 101 year old grandmother Ma passed away yesterday. She had 13 children and lived with our family for pretty much my whole childhood, she’d spend the warmer Canadian months with us and then go back to Trinidad for the winter. She was my second mother and truthfully had the best life of anyone I know.
This woman gave me so much throughout my whole life and she never asked for one thing from anyone, it was always about what could she do for you. It’s a rare thing to get to live with one of your grandparents, and I know how lucky we were for that to be our reality.
We shared a bedroom for the first eight years of my life and she taught me how to pray. She made me rice and dahl when I came home for lunch everyday in elementary school and sat and watched The Flintstones with me. When I was moody as hell as a teenager, she somehow looked through that and was still always on my side no matter what. Every time she cooked it, she made enough kurma candy for the entire neighborhood. She made better dhalpuri roti than any West Indian shop. I’d never heard anyone call a man a bitch until I heard her mutter it under her breath about Stefano on Days of Our Lives which made her laugh when she saw my eyes open wide at hearing her. When I wanted to move to New York and so many people told me it was a bad idea, she told me to do whatever I wanted because I can do things that other people are afraid to. She started wearing the perfume that I love, Miracle by Lancome, because she said she wanted to smell like me when I wasn’t around. She would hold my hand and refuse to let go. When Jasmine died, she promised that she’d watch her when she got to heaven so I never had to worry about her again.
She impacted everyone she met and it’s impossible to sum up this great woman’s life. I wish I could be with her one last time, but I feel her with me. I can hear her laugh. I can feel her presence. I hate that we’ve lost someone so genuinely full of life, but I’m so thankful that she’ll be apart of us forever.
I know you’re in the heavens above, I love you so much, Ma.
