Last year on her 80th birthdayMonday, May 5th, 2009, my grandmother, who I call Yia Yia, passed away. (Pronounced YI YUH --it means grandmother in Greek) The picture above shows her fun side, her zest for life. I love her so much and I will miss her. Yia Yia loved bargains. If something was on sale, she would buy it even if she didn't want or need it, just because it was on sale. Getting a good deal on something thrilled her. She loved ice cream, and most of you know I take after her on that. She always gave me advice. Every time I would come to her house, she would try to sit me and Paul down and explain to us that her plastic container of pills were for her and that we should not touch them because they would be dangerous to us. Even as a teenager, she would tell me not too. "Yia Yia, trust me, I don't want to eat your pills." She made me laugh. She loved to bake, loved to cook, and was extremely good at both. When my parents got married, she gave my mom a lot of really good recipes that she uses to this day. It helped my mom get started on cooking, and now I'm learning to make the same things..yum! When we would go to her house, we always played the game "Password." Really fun times we had! She loved her boys, us kids, and my mom very much, and it expressed it to all of us. What a big stubborn streak she had! She always wanted to know how much we spent on things we bought. On her 76th birthday, we had a surprise party for her. A limo showed up at the house to pick her up. We took her to a restaurant where she was surprised to see many of her friends and family all there. She laughed and cried, and then scolded my dad for spending the money. She always made us laugh when she worried about things and scolded for everything. I could go on and on, but I will end with saying, I love you Yia Yia, I miss you, and thank you for what you did for me--for all of us.
Love,
Jen
