My Grandma Mim was tickled when I started learning Spanish in school. She had studied Spanish in a past life and didn’t have as many opportunities to practice it at that time, so when we saw each other, we’d have fun swapping phrases and correcting each other’s mistakes (Mostly mine! She was a thoughtful speaker of the language, which will surprise no one reading this.).

Several years later, when I had moved to New York City to attend college (which places this story somewhere between 2004-2008; Mim would have been around 80), I got a phone call from Grandma letting me know that she was planning a trip to the city to visit with some old friends. She told me about her long-time friendship with these women, where the four of them had studied Spanish and traveled together. Since then, they had lost one member of the crew but the three adventurers were off to NYC for a girls’ weekend and were inviting me to join them for an afternoon.

We met up in Manhattan and had a wonderful time. We had lunch where I got to hear about trips to Latin America and other stories from Mim’s past that I had never heard before. Until then, I had really only known her as Grandma—but now I got to know Mim. A curious and passionate woman, full of life and with a love of learning and new experiences, even at 80! After lunch, we took a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where I got to see the cultures of the world through her eyes. That trip meant so much to me.

I love you, Grandma. I miss you.

From Lexie, daughter of Rick