By Madeline Lau
My best friend in the world is one of the coolest people I’ve ever known. She’s super smart, super fun, really considerate and a great cook.
She’s been all over the world and is never afraid to venture into the unknown.
Whenever I’m around her I feel like I’m at home, and she never makes me feel bad about myself.
Plus, she knows more words than anyone in the entire world!
Yeah, I know; my best friend basically rocks.
She also happens to be my grandmother.
I know a lot of people who have distant, somewhat precious relationships with their grandmothers, getting candy or money for various holidays or seeing them once a year at family reunions. I will tell you now that I am not one of those people.
From the beginning of time, my grandma Babu has had my back.
Honestly, I don’t remember a time when she wasn’t around and I’m glad I can say that.
I spent half of my childhood at my house and half at hers; this was pretty easy since she’s always lived next door.
She was a normal grandmother in that she sewed all of her grandkids (and eventually great-grandkids) cool clothes and always had cookies, but she was atypical in that she would regularly pack up and travel to places like China for a few weeks. My dad was left to water her plants and feed her cat, and I was left with a sense of awe.
Who was this cool lady?
As I grew older I started learning more about my grandmother’s life as a journalist, writing for newspapers in Cincinnati, Roseburg and even little old Stayton, where she was once editor-in-chief of the Stayton Mail. In her collegiate days she was selected to be editor-in-chief of the “Emerald” at the University of Oregon, and in her lifetime covered the Second World War, and traveled to Tanzania for a story.
Since then she’s been to all seven continents (yes, even Antarctica!) and still travels regularly at an age when most ladies would rather stay at home knitting. Which, by the way, she does quite well, once making everyone hats for Christmas. She is a jill-of-all-trades, (though we both share a dislike for mathematics) and to me, seems like kind of a superhero.
If she weren’t already cool enough, my grandma Babu also wears Converse low-tops, Vans slip-ons and Pumas. You may not be someone who judges people by what shoes they wear, but I am, and by my standards, she’s got a pretty awesome collection.
I’ve never been one to have heroes, usually choosing some obscure historical figure for elementary school essays rather than favorites like Martin Luther King or Gandhi, but my one hero would have to be my grandmother. The things I want to do most in my life: travel, write and have a great family, she’s already beaten me to, with much success. I don’t mind, though, because if it means I turn out anything like her then I’ll be just fine.
My grandmother’s birthday was July 11, turning an undisclosed age. Happy birthday, Babu; I love you.
