I'll Be Seeing You

When my mom, sisters, and I went to see The Notebook, we decided it would be best to not take my Omi with us.  She had just lost her husband and an emotional love story was probably not the best thing for her to watch at the time.  When we left the theater, my mom mentioned that the one thing Omi would have liked was the song "I'll Be Seeing You" by Billie Holiday.  I believe it was when Omi was in college, she and some girlfriends went to see the movie I'll Be Seeing You.   When they left the theater, they vowed to always remember each other anytime they heard the song, which was featured throughout the movie.  Now whenever I hear that song, I think of Omi and her friends.

Omi being held by her grandfather

I spoke to my mom on the phone earlier this week and she notified me she was getting ready to head back east.  Omi's health had all of a sudden declined and my uncle wasn't sure how much longer she'd last.  I must be honest in saying, every time my mom called, I expected her to say Omi died.  She's been ready to pass for over 10 years, ever since her husband suddenly passed away.  I've been grateful that she's hung on for so long, to see all of us get married and have kids but now I'm grateful that she's reunited with so many people that she's missed for so long.

One of which was her mother.  Some time after Omi's dad passed away, MooMoo came to live with her.  As long as I could remember, Omi and MooMoo were always together.

Omi and Opa on their wedding day with MooMoo and Daddy MooMoo

They moved from the Bay Area up the coast to Fort Bragg in the late 80s.  There, Omi had a beautiful home built, where MooMoo had her own space downstairs and Omi had her's upstairs.  We took many vacations up there and I have nothing but the fondest memories spent at Omi's.

We would go to the beach, play in the wooded area in her front yard, feed Buttons, the horse, next door, go bowling, rent movies from the movie theater that also doubled as a video store, get chicken tenders and potato wedges from Safeway, go to Mendocino, go to the hobby store on the edge of town, watch slides on Omi's bedroom wall, watch Overboard time and time again, and visit Omi at her various jobs.

Omi had quite the résumé!  While living in Fort Bragg, she worked at the local radio station, a local shell shop called "Just the Shell of It," the yummiest bakery ran by a Dutchman, and I've been told she worked at a hotel (but I don't remember that).  She worked at banks and for a company called Fairchild, which took she and my mom to Germany (which is how my parents met). Omi was very independent but loved taking care of people.

Like the time she watched my four siblings and me while my parents spent their 10 year anniversary in Europe. I'm told she tried giving me cheese but I refused to eat it. She always took great care of MooMoo, preparing her coffee and milk toast every morning. And when she remarried later in life, you could tell she took great pride in serving her husband who had fallen ill from a stroke.

Omi was a huge 49ers fan and was especially fond of Joe Montana. She always wore a ribbon around the neck of her collared dress shirts. Purple was her favorite color, and I can still picture her in her strappy purple dress shoes. She was the queen of SkipBo and Yahtzee. Her Dodge minivan had a very distinct smell, not bad to most but I'm sensitive to scents. She always hung blue candy canes on her Christmas tree. She had a full head of white hair by the time she was 35, and it was always set in curlers. Her short term memory began to dwindle not too long after her husband died but she could tell you anything about her childhood. She was able to travel the world. Her prayers were always the sweetest and most sincere. If I ever had to identify her by her hands, I'd bet money that I could; they were arthritic but her nails were always sculpted. She loved Christmas and I'm so blessed to have many of her decorations, including her Santa collection. She loved cream soda and ham. It was guaranteed that at 7:00, she'd turn on Jeopardy and follow that up with Wheel of Fortune. She had D&C 82:10 posted on her bathroom mirror and I have it memorized because of her.

There are so many things I will miss about her being here on earth but I know she's in a much happier place. So, Omi, to you I say, "I'll be seeing you!"