My Grandma Cyn

The famous Grandma Cyn

Anyone who knows me knows about a thousand Grandma Cyn stories. Grandma Cyn is very famous in my very big world with a very large entourage of people. She has this huge fan club and the funny thing is she hasn't met even an eighth of her fans! But truth be told I can really write an entire book on my Grandma Cyb. She is vivacious, full of life, exciting, fun, and oh so entertaining.

Grandma Cyn lost both her parents by the time she was thirteen years old and was pretty much raised by her older sister, my Aunt Gladys (who will be 91 this summer). Grandma Cyn married into this very big Italian family, raised her children in the Bronx and then later in North Jersey. She lived for many years with her very difficult mother in-law whom she did love very much.

I tell and retell a Grandma Cyn story just about every day. Grandma Cyn have that in common, we retell our stories as if it's the first time people have heard them. Most don't care because they make us smile and laugh. Some of the situations are very much like a zany Lucy situation. One time Italian relatives who only spoke Italian arrived at her house in the Bronx unexpectedly and she had to pick up her children. She didn't know what to do so she repeatedly throwing hewr hands in made up sign language yelled "BAMBINO! SCHOOL! BAMBINO! SCHOOL!" And everyone who has heard the story of how the relatives were hesitant to eat her spaghetti sauce when they discovered she was of Jewish background. She always exclaims "Well they had four platefuls!!"

Like me, Grandma Cyn needs landmarks. One time she rode her bicylce and she knew to make the left turn at the yellow house. Can you imagine what happened when the family painted the house blue? Or the time she drove down the road and was looking for the church with the big statue of Jesus and she got lost in traffic in the rain. She rocked back and forth nervously asking "Where are you Jesus? Where are you Jesus?" And finally exclaiming when she found the statue "HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!"

Or the time my mother was decorating the condo in Florida and almost left her in the store after a big run in with an opposing buyer? Or the time all her grandchildren took turns riding a wheelchair in a museum because she was took proud to sit in it. Then after seeing all of us, decided it was okay and after five minutes my brother telling her to get up and that it was his turn! Or the time my grandfather tried to teach her to drive and he made her a nervous wreck. At the end he put his arm around her and gasped asking why she was soaking and she cried to him "You made me that way!!!" Or when she tried cheating on her drivers test with Grandpa asking him the answers to a few questions. He passed, she failed. There were two different tests! "But I passed with a 100 the next time!" she tells.

How about rooming with her at every family reunion for the last six years. When room service came too early and she kicked them out. I said good morning, and she said "I don't want to talk! I'm going to close my eyes and you're going to disappear!." On three I hid and when she opened her eyes I was gone and she bust out laughing. That was the same year the bird flew into our room and I said "Grandma don't turn around!" Well she did. The reaction was priceless. Aunt Karen, Grandma Cyn, and I also jumped in the kids moon bounce. Actually Aunt Karen and I jumped and Grandma just laid there enjoying the assimilated massage.

Me and Grandma Cyn this year at Christmas

If you saw every picture I have of Grandma Cyn, she has a glass in her hand. People would think she's an alcoholic or something. But that became the running joke for YEARS! So for the last eleven years, I HAD to get a picture of Grandma Cynb with a glass in her hand. I have to make a huge collage one day to compile it all. Maybe I can find someone who can help me with that.

So I can talk about Grandma Cyn all day. And no one ever gets bored of a Grandma Cyn story. And I have SOO many! But there are even more stories that are not told about her, and only her grandchildren can really appreciate them. Because they are our stories. Grandma Cyn always made us feel loved, always made us feel special. We would laugh, we would share.

One my personal moments with my brothers and cousins was in Wild Wood. Grandma Cyn was not there with us. She always sang this old song "I've got shoes! You've got shoes! All God's children's got shoes! When we get to heaven we're gonna put on those shoes and walk all over God's HEAVEN! Heaven! HEAVEN!" So on our way to the beach my brother said "I got a shovel!" My cousin goes "You got a shovel!" Then I chimed in "All God's children's have a shovel!" And then the five of us broke out in song that we were gonna shovel all over God's heaven! LOL!!!!

Of course half of my Grandma Cyn stories involve my Aunt Karen. The situations and conversations between these two women rival those between Bea Arthur and Estelle Ghetty as Dorothy and Sophia from The Golden Girls. I blogged about one that TO THIS DAY I get people emailing me about called the carousel.  Read it, you'll enjoy it.

My Grandma Cyn stories have brought a lot of happiness and joy to people, as I tell them constantly and am even asked to repeat them. But the joke is on them, because it is we, her grandchildren who get the greatest joy. We get to experience her love and laughter and she has been one of the greatest treasures of our lives. I am so grateful for my experiences and every moment I share with my Grandma Cyn. The inside jokes, the Grandma Cynisms, the repeated phrases, the retelling of old stories, the making of new stories, and it's all done with so much love.

Grandma Cyn has been a wonderful matriarch to the Trento family. Because the head matriarch leads the family with lots of love and caring. It's such a shame my brothers and cousins and I never got the chance to meet our Grandpa Fred Trento. He was a wonderful man, ahead of his time, and left us all too soon in 1982 at 56 years old. But Grandma Cyn has provided the amount of love for two grandparents over the years and exudes love. Every time I hang up the phone with her, she says I love you up to the moon! And I follow up with "I love you out of this universe!" Our love for Grandma Cyn goes beyond the scope of this world and more, and we are so blessed.

Grandma Cyn last month on Easter.

Yours in service,
MASTER A TRENTO