M A R T H A

Dr. Urbino, prepared for a confidential visit, realized too late that there was no innocence more dangerous than the innocence of age.

-Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I met my Gran Martha yesterday!

Can you believe she has hardly any teeth?

Can you believe she has her mother's chinese silk wedding dress in a basket under her bed?

Can you believe she can still count to one hundred in Chinese?

She doesn't! She does! She can!

She makes lasagna,

she shuffles across the floor in socks

like my dad does.

She has bibles everywhere.

She tapes her name onto her tupperware and serving spoons.

Martha Sutcliffe - my same last name!

Used to be Martha Murray in a hurry

When she was younger, she tells us looking through old pictures,

before she got married.

She hugged me hello,

our very first hug if you ask me,

maybe our first adult hug, if you ask her.

You wouldn't believe how tight she hugged me!

Like we knew each other everyday since day one!