I should date this note. My Grammie gave it to me when I turned 14 for my birthday.

When I called her to say thank you I also told her I would never change the pictures out of it. That is was so special to me just how it was. She kept insisting that I put my boyfriend’s picture in it (she thought Chris was wonderful) and I told her forget it, it was staying just as she gave it to me.

She was quite a woman. She found out she was pregnant for my Dad 2 weeks after her husband died. She was 36 years old, considered old to be having children. My Dad never knew his father. So a single mother in the 1940’s, who worked as a secretary. She never remarried, though she did have a few affairs with married men, nothing every came of them. When I was 18, she was 81 and she thought that was wonderful.

When I was 19 I backpacked across the country, I stopped in Moncton to stay with her for a week. She would tell me crazy stories about people long dead. I always enjoyed the stories about her life, I wish I had wrote them down then.

She had a small apartment, and I remember sitting in her kitchen, the evening sun coming in the window above the sink along with a warm breeze. She had these ceramic little figurines along her window sill. I used to play with them when I was little and visiting. I can still see her in front of the sink, while I sat at the table. I can’t remember what we were talking about, but I can see her there so clearly.

The last time I saw her I was moving to Toronto to go live with my new boyfriend (a whole other story) and took the train. It stopped briefly (for 20 minutes) in Moncton. She was there waiting for me with a bunch of fancy, crust cut off sandwiches that she loved to make. I got off the train and we sat on a bench to chat before I had to board again. I was going to share the sandwiches, so we could enjoy them together and she insisted I save them for the trip.

Her name is my middle name. And I passed that middle name down to my daughter (who she would have adored).

In my life, whenever I have a something I need to get through, a presentation, a client meeting that I’m not feeling great about or anything like that, I put on that necklace. I always imagine her strength, how much she loved me and somehow that she would be with me. I’ve gotten through a lot with that locket.

I loved her very much.