Don't be jealous of my family

My maternal grandma is amazing (the other one is too, but I'm not talking about her right now). We call her Mor-Mor. It’s Swedish, if you’re uncultured and don’t know that.

She’s funny for lots of reasons, most of which involve spunkiness and such. She likes to say sassy things to Chris and then say, “You know, I really don’t know why Erin is the way that she is. I just don’t know where that came from.”

Her favorite book in the whole world is Wuthering Heights. I am re-reading it right now, I read it in high school and enjoyed it, but I wanted to read it again. And because I know how much she loves it, I wrote her a little note and mailed it to her to tell her I was reading it, and thought of her.

Today, while I was driving in the car, listening to Science Friday with Ira Flato, they started to talk about how the evolution of humans is conducive to running, and how exercise helps you mentally, and endorphins, and such, so I called my mom to tell her about it. My mom loves running like nobody’s business.

When I called, she just happened to be over at Mor-Mor’s house, and after I chatted with my mom for a moment and informed her of the topic of Science Friday, she passed the phone to my cute grandma, who told me how much she liked my note. Then she also asked me if I wanted her copy of Wuthering Heights, which also happens to be the first edition published in America. Now, I know my grandmother well enough to know what she means when she asks you if you “want something.”

She means she is going to write it down in a notebook full of lists of names of people in our family matched up with possessions in her house. The woman is so prepared for her death, and nonchalant about it too. In fact, during this conversation she said, “You know I mean when I die, right?” And I said, “Yes, I know.” And she said, “Yeah, don’t come over here today and try to get it.” She is so funny. And I really hope she doesn’t give me that Wuthering Heights book anytime soon, but I will gladly accept it and cherish it when it is mine.

She also informed me that she had recently ordered another DVD of Wuthering Heights, one she hadn’t seen yet. I told her timidly that I hadn’t seen ANY movie version of it, and she exclaimed, “Well, for golly’s sake!” And then she and I concocted a ladies’ movie night at her house once I finish the book.

On this same outing of mine, Science Friday had shifted and was talking about cannibalism. It was awesome. They interviewed a woman who wrote a book about cannibalism, and I thought, “I bet Char would really love this,” and soon I got a text from her that said, “Science Friday is amazing right now.”

Little things like today just make me so glad that I have interesting women in my family. The kind of peeps that when I read good literature, or hear fascinating things on the radio, I think of them, and they think of me too. I love those girls.