I grew up, moved to the city, and built a life. But I drove back every weekend without fail because home was wherever Grandma was.
She was my whole world.
And then Tyler proposed. Everything became the brightest it had ever been.
Grandma cried when Tyler put the ring on my finger. Full, happy tears, the kind she didn’t bother wiping because she was too busy laughing at the same time.
She grabbed both my hands and said, “I’ve been waiting for this since the day I held you.”
***
Tyler and I started planning the wedding. Grandma started having opinions about every detail, which meant she called me every other day. I didn’t mind a single call.
Four months later, Grandma Rose was gone. She was well into her 90s.
“I’ve been waiting for this since the day I held you.
A heart attack, quiet and fast, in her own bed. The doctor said she wouldn’t have felt much.
I told myself that was something to be grateful for, and then I drove to her house and sat in her kitchen for two hours without moving because I didn’t know what else to do.
Grandma Rose was the first person who’d ever loved me unconditionally and without limit. Losing her felt like losing gravity, like nothing would stay in its place without her underneath it all.
A week after the funeral, I went back to pack up her belongings.
Losing her felt like losing gravity.
I worked through the kitchen, the living room, and the small bedroom she’d slept in for 40 years. And at the back of her closet, behind two winter coats and a box of Christmas ornaments, I found the garment bag.
I unzipped it, and the dress was exactly as I remembered: ivory silk, lace at the collar, and pearl buttons down the back. It still smelled faintly of Grandma.
