It took me a long time to free my own grandmother from the sexist cliché of the perfect grandmother, to accept her without expecting her to give me care. To recognize that she coped with her own story.
Talking to her on the phone one December evening about courage, I realized what a different battle she had to fight. For her, not having to cook in her old age, being able to do whatever she feels like all day, is a privilege she got very late in life. What does courage mean to a woman in the 1960s? I ask her, and she begins to tell me about the most courageous moments of her life.
It took me a long time to free my own grandmother from the sexist cliché of the perfect grandmother, to accept her without expecting her to give me care. To recognize that she coped with her own story.
Talking to her on the phone one December evening about courage, I realized what a different battle she had to fight. For her, not having to cook in her old age, being able to do whatever she feels like all day, is a privilege she got very late in life. What does courage mean to a woman in the 1960s? I ask her, and she begins to tell me about the most courageous moments of her life.