Ann Metcalf

Just want to thank everyone who was at the memorial yesterday. Folks who were there heard me read this out loud, but I want to post it hear too. Some of my favorite memories with Grandma Ann: One of my favorite memories of Grandma Ann is when she babysat my sister and I when we were little. She was always enthusiastic and excited about getting together, and would greet us by waving with gusto from the open front door. When my parents came back to pick us up, I would hug her goodbye, get in the backseat, and look back at her waving from the doorway. And then she would scrunch up her nose and wag her fingers and stick out her tongue at us! It cracked me up every time since I was little. When I was a kid, Grandma Ann initiated me into several fandoms: The Beatles, Gene Kelly Musicals, The Marx Brothers, Fantasia, Harry Potter. I loved spending time with her and enjoying those movies, books, and music together. She loved teaching me about things and exploring new things together. I remember that when a song came on that she liked, she would start shaking her arms and dancing in her chair. I think as a little kid, I felt embarrassed by it at first -- I remember playfully telling her "Stop! Grandma's can't dance!" or something like that. She just looked at me with a huge wicked grin and kept on dancing, retorting something like "Says who?" I was totally enamored with her sheer confidence and "I don't give a crap what you think" attitude. She showed me how to really enjoy something, and it was infectious, I would start dancing too! Grandma Ann always insisted that I give her a big hug which made me feel so loved, and always made me feel special by showing she cared about my education and goals and geeking out over our common interests. I'm thankful to her, because she seemed to be more confident in me than I've ever been in myself. She also made it very clear which side she was on when it came to every social issue-- And she was an advocate for the empowerment of all oppressed people. In other words, she was both an extremely compassionate and an extremely ~pissed off~ citizen. I'm thankful that my own worldview is inspired by her influence. I learned a lot from her over the years, and wish we could have more time together. I miss all the things we did together: eating too much Chinese food, discussing current events like they're gossip, helping her with research, playing in her garden when we were little, watching musicals, doing puzzles, etc. Someday I hope I see her again in another world. Love, Molly <3