Altar for Grandmother

This week at E's school, the older kids displayed their Day of the Dead Altars; Tombstone sized collections of artifacts representing a dead love ones life. There were many pictures of WWII veterans along with hand made hats, playing cards, scratch tickets, menorah's and crosses, Oreos and snickers (favorite foods). It was hard to pass by these alters without remembering our own losses and the detritus which remind us of them

Altar for Grandmother: For my grandmother's alter, there would be plastic curlers and bobby pins, a large can of hair spray, the girdles she wore for most of her life, washed each night, and then hung to dry on the shower curtain rod. I would place a large black pocket book right in the middle of the display; the suitcase sized one filled with lipstick, sen sen, gum, tissues, scissors and nail cutters, change and bills, pens, paper and ruler, perfume, nail polish, an extra pair of underwear and nylons, address book, rosary beads (two pair), wooden and silver crosses, pears, apples, rolls from the diner that went uneaten, sugar packets, as well, and ketchup in packages. There would also be three deck's of cards, poker chips and bingo chips, coupons, newspaper circulars, a wrench, a knife or two, a screw driver, and three bottles of orange soda.

The pocket book, which weighed at least 20 pounds, would enable two adults and a child to survive a flood, snow storm, typhoon or a fortnight lost in an urban jungle. Grandmother was well prepared if anything.

On her alter, I would also include a package of white flour and sugar, olive oil, garlic and eggplants, a can of tomato past, and onions for the cooking she did every day and a picture of my grandfather with whom she spent a lifetime Also, I would put the two wrist watches she wore - one on each wrist - during her ten year stint in the nursing home. There would be the dentures she abhorred but kept in the house dress pocket in case they were needed for a particularly tough piece of meat or unexpected company and the witch hazel, vinegar, aspirin, and aloe which could cure all but the most persistent of viruses, aches and sprains. All of these things I would sit on the orange and brown afghan she crocheted each evening while watching the 11 O'clock news.