The other day I was sitting in the office, typing, when Cindy walked in with a short news submission from Ida Brownridge, who used to be a correspondent for the paper from Arcola for 15 years.
Ida is now nearly 94, and included in her fun submission was that at 90-years-old she had gotten a tattoo courtesy of her grandson, Carroll Brownridge with Farmhand Tattoo in Arcola.
The note made me smile and think of my own grandmother. Last year she passed away in November and thinking of her still brings tears to my eyes. I miss her a lot. It wasn’t that I called her on the phone often, but when I’m reminded of her now, I’m reminded that she’s gone. It’s not a bad thing, in fact a lot of times it reminds me of funny moments with her, which includes a conversation about tattoos, which Ida’s note reminded me of.
Granny was 90 when she passed away, so just the right age for a tattoo it would seem by Ida’s fun little submission.
I can’t remember how long ago now that we got onto the subject, but I do remember it was just her and I sitting and chatting. She spotted the one on my arm and proceeded to ask, “What is that?!”
I explained it was a tattoo and that in fact I was thinking about getting another one, to which she scoffed and shook her head like I was crazy.
I laughed and told her that I was pretty sure the majority of her grandchildren had at least one.
She thought about that, “But why do you like them?”
“Well, I really like how it’s an artistic expression of yourself and your life,” I said, then I let Granny have a closer look at my arm, which had three stalks of wheat tattooed onto it, the one that had caught her eye, oddly enough a piece Carroll did for me.
She nodded along with explanations of my three tattoos before deciding, “You know what, if I were younger, I bet I would have one too.”
Haha, Granny with a tattoo! Maybe Oma, but Granny? Nope, never!
Being her favourite grandchild <-just checking if my sister and cousins read my column… haha. I told her she could in fact get a tattoo of something that reminds her of me! I even said we could go together for matching ones if she wanted.
But, this was to no avail; she just chuckled and said, “Ohh, Kelly; I’m too old for that.” The “Ohh, [insert name here]” was usually reserved for those pesky trouble makers like my dad or my sister, so I laughed that I had gotten an, “Ohh, Kelly;” I guess she decided I was turning into a trouble maker like those two.
If only I would have known Ida had gotten one at 90, I could have told my Granny it wasn’t too late!
So, I’m hoping Ida reads the newspaper each week, because I want to say, thank you. You helped to bring back the memory of that funny exchange between my grandma and me. I know you didn’t intend to bring me to tears when you wrote it, but it’s funny how memories can come flooding back, sparked by something to randomly come across my desk.
Carroll’s working on a piece for me now, in memory of my grandma, so I guess it really is a small world for all of that to be related.
