My grandma

I simply can't say it often enough... my grandma is truly unique. And I love her to bits. She's just... indescribable! Really! You have to meet her and get to know her to know what I mean. There are just so many levels to her, sort of. I keep discovering new things. I'm finally starting to realize what a long and eventful life she's led, she's experienced so many things, good things and bad, and everything she's ever lived through is there in her brain, just waiting to be discovered by someone else, anyone who's willing to listen. And I am willing to listen, very much so too. And she's really fond of telling me old stories, especially since she knows how much I enjoy listening to them. And our conversations... they're so deep! It's amazing. Usually you'd expect someone my grandma's age to be rather conservative and narrow-minded, but... my grandma... she's so OPEN to everything. I know that her siblings and her mother always saw her as "the odd one out" when they were little. Like, today, she told me about when her sister got pregnant, unmarried, at the age of 19. Keep in mind that this was in the 30s, my grandma was 16. To my great grandma, one of her daughters getting pregnant without having a boyfriend or husband was almost like the end of the world. My grandma on the other hand, simply couldn't see what it was that made it so wrong. I'm proud of my grandma. She's always been a bit of a loner, she really enjoys her own company, and the love of her life is long lost, but she's always true to herself. And I admire her for that.

Also, she pointed out to me how she was sure her grandma had been a witch. She said she wanted to try the theory out on me, because usually when she mentioned it to people, the standard reply would be "nah, I don't believe in such things as witches and the supernatural". But I don't think my grandma would believe such a thing without having at least some sort of proof. My great grandma (my grandma's mum) married a Same (Samer are the native people of Norway, living up north), which of course was considered a great shame at the time. Back in the 19th century, and even a good deal into the 20th centuries, the Samer where heavily discriminated against. So, when my great grandma married one of them, her mum heavily disapproved. So, when my great grandma and her husband were to take over the family farm, her mum (my great great grandma) told her that "a lot of tears will be shed on this farm", due to her heavy disapproval. And that foreshadowing turned out to be very much true indeed. Her husband (my great grandfather) was soon killed (he was pushed off a cliff), and left her (my great grandma) alone with 4 little children to raise all by herself. Something which obviously was hard. Running the entire farm on her own obviously left no time for the children. I don't think my grandma remember her mother too fondly, I think she was rather strict and serious, which is almost understandable due to the circumstances... Then one of her daughters got pregnant, like I mentioned, and her only son ended up mentally ill (he was the one who first found his father dead, he was only 10), and died at a young age. Both my grandma's other sister and my grandma were sent away to work when they were very young. My grandma's not had an easy life, but she's handled everything that's been thrown at her extremely well.

Now my grandma's the only one of the four siblings still alive. And I asked her today, if she's afraid of anything. She told me that she's not. Not anymore. She said she didn't think there's anything to be afraid of, not even death, because it's unavoidable. When she was a kid, she wasn't even afraid of the dark, she told me.

Then we went on to talking about supernatural things, what happens to our spirits when we go on, the unknown capacities of the human brain, paranormal activities... Let's just say, such conversations are completely normal, we always end up going way deep when it's just me and her. It's almost like it's only me and her in the entire world, right there and then, having these conversations with her almost makes me forget about the outside world while they're going on. It's actually rather strange.

My grandma's often told me how the only thing they learned in school was the Bible. She remember having one hour of natural science, but that was all. She never went to university, or college. Still, she's one of the wisest people I know. Simply because she's allowed life to teach her things, she's embraced every experience with her arms wide open and a will stronger than anything, and she's always kept her eyes open, and her mind open for influences. She's taught me a lot. She was the one who tied me how to tie my shoes, we used to have pillow fights in the living room, we also used to built castles with chairs and carpets and pillows. We used to go for long walks, to the local grocery store, where we would buy buns and tiny cartons of juice, and then we would go to the playground nearby and climb up into one of the play houses and sit there for a while. She taught me how to cut grass the old-fashioned way, with a scythe, she taught me how to gather water in the river when we spent our summers at the cabin, she's taught me a lot about plants and flowers and how to tend to a garden. She's taught me right from wrong, and she makes the most wonderful oatmeal porridge, and the most wonderful waffles. She's very important to me. And I realize how lucky I am to have a grandma like that. She's always been my only grandma, sort of... my dad's grandma was of the more old-fashioned kind, and seeing as she died when I was only nine or ten, I never really grew close to her in any way. To be honest, I'm not even sure she was too fond of me, or kids in general. I was "too noisy" for her. My mum's dad I've never met, and my dad's dad died when I was very little. I remember him vaguely, because we have a lot of pictures, and I think he was fond of me. But... the way my grandma's always been there for me means a lot.

Hope you've enjoyed reading this, I sure as anything enjoyed writing it.

:)

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