I lived with my grandmother during college. It was the best for us
When I told my father that he had been accepted at Bath University in the United Kingdom, they quickly said that there is no way to go.
Their logic was simple: they knew that I was chasing me after a high school friend who was not suitable for me and that I wouldn’t like to live in a bathroom myself.
Knowing that I need to be freed a little from living in Sao Paulo, they suggested that I move to Argentina, from where I am originally for the college. After that, I can decide what to do after that. There was only one warning-I had to live with my 81-year-old grandmother. They did not think that I was ready to live alone in a big city, and I had no way to pay for the rent.
I was already close to my grandmother
My maternal grandmother and my grandmother are really very close. My grandfather died months after my birth (my family says he waited to meet me), and so my grandmother devoted her time to helping my parents to raise me.
The author as a child with her grandmother.
With the author
She was staying in our apartment when my parents had to travel to work, and taught me how to walk and speak. When my father was transferred to a country different from his job, it came for a year to help us stabilize.
I moved when I was 19 years old and she was 81 years old
My grandmother lived in a bedroom apartment when I moved with her. Besides a computer and office, I only had to bring my clothes. I paid her for my location in the building and helped keep the place arranged.
Because we were very close and we lived together before, there was not much control for us. The only issue that we had with me at night; You couldn’t understand how I could go out until the early hours of the morning and still reach the separation on time.
But the preparation was useful for both of us. Although I was born in Argentina, I did not live there for more than a decade. Having a safe place to land helped me focus on studying and making friends.
When I went home, my grandmother had dinner, and we will spend time catching a knee and speaking. When she needed to go to the doctor, I was going with her to make sure that she understood everything they were telling her.
People in my life thought it was strange at first
Initially, not everyone understood my decision. My mother told my mother that it was not a “natural” teenager to live with their ancestors. My friends, who are still living mostly with their parents, believed that he was a little stranger.
With the passage of years, people in my life began to see how useful this is for us.
On one occasion, my grandmother confused her pills and took the wrong amount of blood pressure medications. She invited me, dizzy, saying that there is something wrong. She rushed to the hospital, where we were told that it was just a intimidation and that her symptoms would end as soon as the drug leaves her system.
When my college friend separated from me from the blue color, I detained me while I was crying on her shoulder. I scratched my back until I slept, just as I did when I was a little girl.
I moved after the college
After graduation, I moved to myself, not far from it. I still take her for lunch with our family and make sure that she is as much as I could be in her life. Years later, I moved to the United States, but I still invited her weekly to chat.
My grandmother died when she was 97 years old, seven years ago. I knew it was coming, so I traveled from New York to say personal farewell and thank her for everything I did for me.
My grandmother’s love and care for such training years had to know who I was, a great impact on my life. If you get the option, I was moving with it again.