![]() She was my Nanny Tessie, but she was once a beautiful (drop dead gorgeous, in fact) young woman with her own desires, dreams and struggles. My Nanny Tessie passed away almost ten years ago and I’d give anything to struggle to converse with her on the phone just one more time, but until I read Adena’s Halpern’s novel, “29″, I never gave much thought to her life separate and apart from her role as my grandmother. She was old she had fake teeth she wore a hearing aide that never seemed to work properly she’d stare out the window until my sisters and I came home at night and she never failed to call me by one of my sister’s names. (It’s a wonder I was never obese.) I loved Nanny Tessie but, admittedly, I was sometimes embarrassed by her. ![]() ![]() ![]() And my Nanny Tessie woke up at 7 each and every morning to prepare a six course feast for dinner. My Nanny Tessie drove me to Hebrew School in her embarrassingly old eggplant-colored car. ![]() My Nanny Tessie made me hot tea and toast and placed a cold compress on my head when I was sick. While my mother worked full time to support three children as a single parent, my Nanny Tessie was there to greet me every day when I came home from school. I love my mom more than all the sushi in Japan (a lot), but I have to give significant credit to her mother, my Nanny Tessie, for helping to raise me. ![]()
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