My Why & Who I Honor

My Grandma Kleiman, my mother’s mother, was the family story-keeper. She was widowed at 55. Taught her ten granddaughters how to bake, while winning multiple baking awards at the Indiana State Fair. Had her ears pierced at 75 along with her granddaughter. Grandma called on the elderly in nursing homes when she was in her 80s and older than the majority of those she visited. Despite rheumatoid arthritis that twisted her hands, she crocheted baby afghans in advance for great-grandchildren she wouldn’t live long enough to greet. She was the first to laugh, often at herself, and taught me resilience, tenacity, kindness, mercy, and acceptance.

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Grandma became a nurse’s aide in her 60s and helped deliver her first great-granddaughter, my daughter Amy, who designed both the SwanCygnet and Noodle Nana logos. Amy is an exuberantly creative artist, who intuitively brings words to life. She lives every day to the fullest and has her grandmother’s, my mother’s, warmth, sensitivity, and zest. She laughs more than anyone else I’ve ever known.

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My mother, Delores, is the heart of our family circle. Everyone loves to be with my mother, the cruise director of life. Our father called her an angel as she cared for him during his last few months on earth. My granddaughters call her Grandma-On-The-Farm.

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Finally, to my ladybugs. I loved my granddaughters, Madison and Mia, long before they were born. They are uniquely themselves, yet I see in them bits and pieces of their mother, their great-grandmother, their great-great-grandmother and myself.