Nanny

My grandmother passed away yesterday morning.  I spent the day talking on the phone, checking flights to New York, arranging childcare, cancelling appointments, moving meetings.  As my sister would say, I was "all business".  Someone needs to tend to the details, and I'm good at that.

Every Monday, we have a babysitter watch the kids while we go to the gym and then out to dinner.  It's a really nice part of our week, one that we've really appreciated for the past few months.  Last night, I struggled through my yoga class.  Things that are usually no problem seemed tougher to me.  I was happy when the relaxation phase of the class began so I could close my eyes and let my mind wander.

Dinner time: "What would Nanny like us to do tonight?", asked E Ben.  "We should do something romantic.  She would like that."  We decided to grab a quick bite at our neighborhood Italian place.  Afterwards, we went for a stroll around Northwest, then drove up to Pittock Mansion to look out over our fair city.  We talked about our kids and the changes in our lives.  We talked about our families and all of our grandmothers.  About the last hilarious conversation that I had with Nanny in March about French nightgowns and Italian men.  We watched the sun go down, then drove home to our sleeping kids.

Nanny would have liked that.