Word Prompt – BUBBY – Keshet Starr

Bubby: The image connotes a warm, friendly older lady wearing giant glasses (which, based on my recent glasses-shopping trip, are somehow cool again??) and baking cookies (chocolate chip, of course).

Real bubbies are more varied than that, of course – they can be young and hip, elderly, and anything in-between. But no matter which kind of bubby you have, the name brings up a larger question – how do we connect across generations? How do we build close relationships with people whose lives and backgrounds are so different from our own, who don't live in our home, and who we may only see a few times a year?

Growing up, I lived across the country from my grandmother (like, literally – Hawaii to New York!) and saw her once, maybe twice, a year. And yet, she played a huge role in my childhood. She was a Holocaust survivor who rebuilt her life and never stopped learning. When times changed, she changed with them; I even remember her asking me once how Snapchat worked, a question which I was already too old to answer!

My grandmother wasn’t the typical bubby in many ways. She didn’t believe in cooking, for example, always telling me it was a waste of time because people would just eat it. But even so, she taught me that no matter how old you are, there is always more to discover, to learn, to explore. And maybe that’s the most important bubby lesson of all.