Newley Purnell

Dispatches from Bangkok

Why I Love My Grandmother

with 2 comments

My grandmother and grandfather

My grandmother is 88 years old. That’s her, above, with my late grandfather in 1942. I spent the evening with her today and always enjoy our time together. In addition to being a voracious consumer of newspapers and magazines, she’s more proficient at using the internet than many people I know who are half her age. She regularly emails, does online shopping, and reads news sites.

Today I told her, half-kidding, that she should start a blog, just for kicks. But she was interested in no such thing. “No way,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to share all those personal details online. I’m not crazy!” I think she might be on to something there.

Later in the visit, we were in a pharmacy examining a selection of multivitamins. She turned to me, smiled, and hit me with this riddle: “Now, if they say a pill is chewable, does that mean you have to chew it? What if you just swallow it?” I laughed and thought: that’s a great question. And I have no idea what the answer is.

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Written by Newley

May 24th, 2008 at 11:02 am

Posted in Misc.

Tagged with , , ,

2 Responses to 'Why I Love My Grandmother'

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  1. Your posting brought tears to my eyes, Newley. That is my favorite photo of Mama and Da, taken by a friend of theirs who was experimenting with color photography.
    During that time, Da made a bracelet for Mama out of brass tubing. It is the letters of her name, linked together. I wear it often, and always get comments about it, usually about how romantic it is!!
    Thanks for reminding me of their courtship and life together. She is so proud of you and we both love you alot!! XXXOOO Mom

    Frances Boyne

    25 May 08 at 8:49 pm

  2. Newley,
    Having met your grandmother one three different occassions, I must agree with you that she’s a really extraordinary person. Lively, funny, super smart, talkative and always extremely nice.

    At 88 she’s got more spunk than half the people I know. She rocks!

    Chris

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