Pinky Was My Grandmother

My grandmother was always big to me; her moniker was Pinky, though. It wasn’t until I was nearly a teenager before I really thought about her nickname at all. At her funeral I finally learned her adult height. Even her driver’s license stated she was 5’4″ so how would I know she was barely 5 foot tall? Grandma just decided on her height and wrote it on her driver’s license application paperwork back in the day and there she was…all 5’4″ of love!!

I’m not very tall myself; I’m 5’4″ but it took me a good deal of time to achieve this monolithical stature and for what seems like forever I always looked up to grandma and I never ever called her Pinky but most everyone else did, especially those who loved and were close to her.

When I was young I just figured she liked the color pink or possibly her rosey pink complexion played a part but nope this wasn’t the cause of grandma’s nickname at all. She was short, shorter than everyone else, for sure!! My grandfather was well over 6 feet tall and all four of her sons too!! She hadn’t any daughters which was the first of my lucky scores because being born a girl made me extremely special to her and my uncles as well.

Grandma also had a dainty and intensely feminine frame but please don’t think she was fragile or less than strong because she was a tough cookie and immensely steadfast with all of us. You’d never think she was as powerful as she was, not even back then because she was so amazingly awesome and tactful at demonstrating her wishes and desires.

Grandma never raised her voice or ever touched a soul (physically) but with just the hint of displeasure in her voice she ruled us all and we were always quick to “call to heel”; she was just so respected and loved so that to fall from her good grace would be the worse punishment in the entire world. Everyone in the family looked up to her even when some were looking down.

Grandma (I never called her Pinky so why start now) was just so honest and sweet and the epitome of pure beauty and love…seriously, she was. She was over the top intelligent and to me she was beyond even the wisdom of Saul. If two women were to fight over a baby grandma wouldn’t have suggested what Saul did which was to cut the babe in half. Grandma would never ever suggest such a thing because she loved children and advocated for their welfare to almost a fault. Grandma would have probably said, “well, just give me that poor baby of contention” and you two fighting women be gone!

Since my earliest memories grandma was always the Oracle of the Delphi and let me tell you she could solve any problem or riddle and she could patch up a skinned knee or elbow too and she never let anyone down; gosh she just was so awesome!

Pinky was my grandmother’s moniker but in my heart and mind grandma was the biggest person in my entire world and now that she’s gone it is I who feels quite small. She was my “go to person”. She was everyone’s “go to person” and now we’re all trying to right ourselves without her and her shoes were so large and I miss her so damn much!

I’ve some of my grandma’s most precious belongings, just some simple objects she held dear and one of these priceless special trinkets is her wedding ring and it’s so tiny it can only fit on my pinky so Now isn’t that something to behold?