It has been said that the name "Mother" is the whisper of God on the lips of a child. For those blessed with the presence of a mother that is. So is the name "Grandma." Grandmas are Mommies too.
My wife's mother died at a very young age, 22 years ago, while we were in our second year of dating. Her name was Leah. So is the name of our daughter.
Looking at photographs of my wife's mother when she was a child and a young woman, I can see a foreshadowed image of our daughter. Our Leah is not as quiet as Grandma Leah was, but her Grandma would have loved her just that same. Even more so.
She was a special person. A special person who never lived to be called "Grandma." She never heard the whisper ... the whisper of a little granddaughter as she cuddled in her motherly arms and closed her little eyes to a candyland of sleep.
She was never allowed the moment of touching our Leah's little hands, or kissing her tiny lips as she was lifted into this life, for her life had already ended, so early, 10 years before her little granddaughter was born in her name ... and with her face.
And she, unlike others who have no right to be called that loving name, would have been a special Grandma. So very special ... so ... so very special. I knew her only two years, but I loved her as if she was already part of my life.
Our daughter Leah never knew her Grandma. She never knew that one special relationship of her Mommy's Mommy to a little girl. But when we look at our Leah's face, we see the beauty ... the new beauty ... the rebirth of one who once was, but was carried off so long before ... so long before she could feel that innocent need, that intuitive want, that faithful touch of a little girl who would whisper the name "Grandma," and know that divine magic ... the magic for which there are no words ... no language.
Happy Mother's Day to all Mommies ... Grandmas too. For sons and daughters, and husbands and grandchildren, I hope you feel the reward of their lives on this day. Tomorrow too. The reward of someone who has a Mommy, who still can whisper "Grandma."
Happy Mother's Day to my mother, to Jennifer ... and to Grandma Leah.
n John DiMambro is publisher of the Nevada Appeal. Write to him at jdimambro@nevada appeal.com.