Word Prompt – BUBBY – Cheryl Kupfer

Ironically, my multi decade association with The Jewish Press began when Mrs. Irene Klass, OBM, the wife of the publisher of The Jewish Press, Rabbi Shlomo Klass, OBM, heard me telling a friend, while we were in the Homowack Lodge swimming pool, how I was a “grand-orphan.”

My parents were Shoah survivors – and my bubbies and zaydies had been murdered by the Nazis, the 20^th century spiritual if not physical incarnation of Amalek. Had I had the unconditional love and support and encouragement that is the gift of a bubby to a grandchild, that would have likely changed the outcome of my life as they would have been a buffer to our parents’ unrealistic expectations of perfection. They could only assuage their extreme guilt for surviving by producing super-achievers.

I promised myself that I would be the bubby I never was blessed with if I was zoche to have grandchildren. Hashem was kind, and I did, and He gave me “years” (I’m a three-time cancer survivor) and I was and am the bubby I vowed to be. In their younger years, a hands-on “nanny granny.” Now I’m ready for the next stage! Being an “alte” bubbe! (a great-grandmother) in the right time!