Grandma

The past three days I have spent wording and rewording, writing and rewriting, posting and reposting this blog entry. It is about my grandma. And it was very hard to write. My beloved babushka Katya passed away on Saturday. I was in tears when my dad told me that, I was in tears for my grandma, I was in tears for my mom and aunt who lost their mom. I was in tears for our little Sasha who won't know her great-grandma.
Babushka Katya was such a wonderful, caring, loving person. We spent most of our summers growing up with her: my sister, my mom and I, and my aunt and two cousins. We all slept in the same room in her one-bedroom apartment, but we had the greatest time getting away from the city, playing with the kids in her small town and growing up. There were crushes and there were bicycle races. There were slides (in the winter) and there were beach outings (in the summer). There were scraped knees and there were crutches. There were countless books and there were early lunches. And most of all, there was endless love. My grandma spoiled us, but not always with things, although she would spend her last dime to buy a little treat for one of her four grandkids.
My grandma taught us hard work and dedication. She taught us how important family and community is. She taught us loyalty and friendship. If you were to talk to anyone in her town, you would not find a single soul who did not know or love her.
And now she is gone. The world became a little bit lonelier and sadder because of this. But my world is so much more wonderful and beautiful because I had her as my grandma. I don't know what else to write, there are so many things I want to say but the words escape me. Babushka Katya, you will be missed terribly! We love you so much!
There weren't too many pictures of her (in electronic form anyway) that I could find, but my parents have this beautiful photo of this beautiful, giving, and very loving woman