The coolest person I’ve ever known

This weekend I said goodbye to one of the most remarkable women I’ve ever known. My grandmother wasn’t just another elderly person watching the world change from the sidelines – she was actively sprinting alongside it, even at 92.

While her friends were wary of smartphones, she was busy mastering Snapchat. She didn’t hesitate to try things out. Years before I even thought about it, she was ordering groceries online. Sometimes though, it led to funny moments: Like when she ordered what she thought was a bag of potatoes but received a single potato instead. Did she get frustrated? No. She laughed at the absurdity and kept exploring.

Even when her mobility became limited, she refused to be defined by it. She redecorated her entire apartment, scooting from room to room on a wheeled kitchen chair, determined to keep things fresh. Just days before she passed, she was shopping for new white shoes. The concept of “being too old” for anything simply didn’t exist in her world.

But what strikes me most wasn’t just her fearlessness with technology or her refusal to act her age. It was her approach to failure. Every mishap was met with laughter, every setback with a “why not try again?” attitude.

Perhaps the greatest gift she left us wasn’t her recipe for flatbread (though those were legendary), but rather her blueprint for navigating change: Stay curious. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

She wasn’t just my grandmother. She was the coolest person I’ve ever known! And in my heart, that’s who she’ll always be.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​