Happy Belated Birthday, Nanna!

Happy Belated Birthday, Nanna! You would have been flooded with friends and gifts on January 3rd, I know because I discovered one as I was unpacking a box of treasures from your condominium. So many of your friends called regardless of your passing this past August. I thought by now going through the boxes would be easy, I was so wrong. In fact, until I opened this particular box, I didn't realize the date. Then, there it was my hands, a book and a birthday card.....January 3rd, 2009 scribbled in perfect cursive in the upper right hand corner with a note from your friend Joan to follow:

"Dear Sunny,
           To a dear friend on her birthday - have many more years ahead.
Love,
Joan.

Happy Belated Birthday, Nanna, maybe you would have been visiting a gallery in the city with your friends.

I look around my apartment and pieces of her are inevitably everywhere, even before she died, I had memories of Nanna all over, a photo here, a piece of art there, clothing she had given me for birthdays and Christmases - she had impeccable taste and even in her 80's never went out of style, she always managed to pick out classic pieces from J.Crew and Anthropologie. When friends would share their horror stories about what the grandparents had gotten them for Christmas, I would wait my turn to brag about Nanna's gifts.

Happy Belated Birthday, Nanna, maybe you would have caught a movie and a nice dinner with your brother.

Now I am taking loving care of her Christmas Cactus, which bloomed right on time this year, as if nothing happened. Her collection of Masterpiece Art books, leather bound and beautiful, are awaiting their proper place in the book shelf. Numerous pieces of art, sculpture, and even some cartoons personally signed "with love to, Sunny"- all of Nanna's art, and she had a gallery worth of it, is signed and gifted to her by the artists themselves or else found their way back with her from one of the dozens of countries she visited with her friends from Vassar College - these priceless treasures litter my living room. I vow to take the best care of them, appreciating them just as she did.

Her dresses from her younger days found their way into my possession, as did a muff and sheeps wool hat that she purchased on a trip to Russia. A lifetime's worth of leather, velvet, cotton and lace gloves now belongs to me as well. When did we stop wearing gloves to every event? This is a fashion statement that must come back.

Happy Belated Birthday, Nanna, maybe you and I would have been taking the train to NYC for an afternoon at the Guggenheim.

With the book from Joan still in my hand I began to think about all the things I loved or didn't love so much about Nanna. For one, she always corrected your grammar and sometimes I would purposely miss use words and phrases just to get her riled up. I recall another time when I was young and I thought I'd be a big help and alphabetize her wine cellar, this turned out to be a terrible idea. Don't do this!

Nanna was a fantastic golfer - the hundred or so plaques and trophies engraved with "RHC" (Round Hill Club) were plenty proof - she loved the arts in any fashion and I remember taking a number of trips into New York City with her in order to spend a full day at the MET or the MoMA. She was a debutante originally from Washing D.C., an athlete in her younger years, an alumnae of Vassar College (a rival to my alma mater, in fact, I remember a few of my field hockey games against Vassar when Nanna showed up wearing her Vassar sweater and although she stood on my side of the field, she cheered for them). She was a world traveler and a lifetime scholar. Even in her late 70's she received a Service Award from the city of Greenwich, Connecticut, where she resided. She was surrounded by dozens and dozens of friends at any given time, never alone, always loved and always respected.

The thing I will miss the most about Nanna is her clipping service. She did this for all of her children and grandchildren. As she read through the New York Times every day she would keep her eye out for articles that might interest any one of us, then, she would clip! They would arrive to us in an envelop marked "Brown Clipping Service" and would come with a little yellow post-it that always said this and nothing more: "XOXO Nanna".

If I could send a clipping to her now, I'd send photos and memories of her from the hundreds of family and friends that gathered at her memorial to share their wonderful, hilarious and cherished times with her.

Happy Belated Birthday Nanna, the world loved you.