The Favorite

You could say that my grandma, Mitsuno "Mitsi"
Matsumoto, was a very interesting person. She loved to go
out with her friends, read books, and even loved to clean
the house. Organization was very important to her. All
her CD’s were in alphabetical order, neatly arranged on
the living room shelf. She even had a notebook with a
list of novels she had read. That too, was of course
alphabetized by the author’s last name. But above all, I
think that our family was most important to my grandma.
She would do anything for us and she always told me she
loved each and every one of us equally.

My grandma was very lucky. She married a great guy, had 3
great sons, 3 great daughters-in-law, and 7 wonderful
grandchildren. All of us grandchildren used to say that
we were grandma’s favorite. We would all argue over who
really was the favorite, and even came up with reasons.
"Well, I’m named after grandpa!" My cousin,
Paul, would say. "There’s no need to argue who’s the
favorite. I am. It’s understood." My other cousin,
Derek, said. But in our hearts, we all knew that grandma
thought we all were her favorites. All 7 of us. That
never made sense to me, because I thought you could only
have 1 favorite. But I guess I was wrong.

My grandma was such a strong person. She had so many
obstacles in her life and she overcame them all. She
conquered the loss of her first child Annette, breast
cancer, and the death of her husband, my grandpa. Her
willingness to get through hard times and to keep living
is something that I have always admired.

My grandma and I were close although we lived so far away
from each other. Every summer, I would go to my grandma’s
house in Hawaii to spend time with her. Even though my
grandma was in her 70s, she still had the energy of a 40
year old. She told me stories of when she was a teenager
and laughed when she told me about all the boys that
chased after her. Even when I was feeling down, my
grandma always made me laugh and smile by the way she
called me. "Sayaka!! Come!!"

Driving with her was a whole other issue in itself. My
grandma swore at drivers and got mad when someone took
"her" parking space. I still can remember when
she said to this one man, "I hope you get 5 flat
tires". She meant all the tires on the car and the
spare one too!

But regardless of her driving habits, or her bad language,
I loved her all the same. She taught me so many things in
life that I will never forget. Her stories of when she
was my age, her philosophy on life and what she taught me
about never giving up will remain in my heart forever.

There is so much more that I could say about my grandma,
but if I did I would be talking forever. She had such a
good heart and was such a caring soul that anyone who
ever met her has been blessed.

It has been hard letting go, and it has been hard
realizing that I can’t call her up and talk to her
anymore. But, what gives me satisfaction is knowing that
she is somewhere, happy with my grandpa, looking down and
watching all of us as we live our lives.