Grandma H

My Grandma Hansen passed away in Virginia on Friday. She would have been 86 in September. I hadn't seen her since May 2008 when Will, Pop-pop and I traveled to Virginia for my cousin's wedding. She'd had some memory issues for the last few years that kept her from really understanding what was going on out here in Wyoming but I would send her pictures of the kids and I think she would see tidbits from the blog now and then. The end came suddenly for us and while I'm so thankful that she is at peace and not in pain anymore, I've had a hard time these last few days wrapping my mind around the fact that she's not just a plane ride away.


I have very fond memories of my grandmother. She lived in Washington, D.C., (actually the beautiful suburb of Alexandria, VA) for most of my life and we would visit her there during summer vacation. She would take us shopping at Lord & Taylor and I remember thinking that store was the most glamorous place on the planet. In junior high, she'd send Christmas boxes full of the kind of clothes that mom and dad weren't buying us and I would make that Esprit sweatshirt last me until the next Christmas. At a time when the right clothing brand was social currency, Grandma Hansen made sure that we were properly equipped.


Grandma was one of those women who looked properly put together at all times. Sadly, that trait has not passed on to this generation... at least in me. Although a Hansen through marriage, she had that wicked sense of humor that has most certainly been passed down. She drove a big Cadillac with a white interior and liked fluffy white dogs. She was smart and sharp and on top of current events, although she did love her People magazine. She could solve the Wheel of Fortune puzzle long before the contestants did and she was one of the first people I knew to have their own computer in their house (!!!).


She took me to New York City when I was sixteen and we had tickets to the Phil Donahue show. She thought the topic for the show was ridiculous (something about people who thought they were too good-looking, it was kind of ridiculous) but she shook Phil's hand and introduced me as her granddaughter as we left the show that afternoon. I was too mute with awe to introduce myself or even mutter a "hi."

The summer I was fourteen, Vicky and I spent a few weeks in Virginia with Grandma and all of our relatives. One memory that sticks with me from that trip was swimming at someones pool one hot afternoon and Grandma told me I looked like Liesl from the "Sound of Music." At a time in my life when I felt much more like a "Kurt" than a "Liesl," that compliment gave my self-esteem a boost and I think of Grandma every time I see that movie on tv. (I've also since subconsciously memorized all the lyrics to "Sixteen going on Seventeen" but that's a topic for another day.)

I think in a sense, my grandmother was a woman before her time. She raised children and then had a career in real estate. She wasn't the kind of grandmother who knitted sweaters and made sugar cookies. She took you shopping and then lunch at a fashionable restaurant. Grandma Hansen was strong-willed and liked things the ways she liked them. And you know what? I don't have to look too far around this house to see that trait carried on in another generation of young women. I just hope Reina likes Esprit.