“hey sparkle!” if i close my eyes i can hear her warm tennessee drawl cheerfully lift as she realized it was me walking into her front door unannounced. “are you hungry, baby girl?” early in the morning on july 3rd, my grandmother (who was like a second mom to me) raised her hands in a hospital bed while all of her organs failed her and thanked jesus for the gift of her beautiful, vibrant 80 years of life. she was the daughter of sally parker (my namesake), the wife of ewing (my ompiee), a mother, a sister, and a grandmother. but she was “omie” to us —and just about anybody that walked in her kitchen. she was english breakfast tea parties in the living room and encyclopedias in the study, LOVED regis philbin & jon bon jovi, gone with the wind & the barefoot contessa. she read nora roberts romance novels and every time she opened a bottle of dasani it was like she just opened a cold beer on a hot summer day, exclaiming “ahhhh that’s some good dasani” we all used to joke about “jean’s world” because her lens for the world was bold and wondrous—ESPECIALLY when japanese cherry trees bloomed or the sunset was unusually breathtaking (which was just about every sunset she ever saw). she was lip syncing “R-E-S-P-E-C-T”, DVR recordings of the beach boys (or any other tv music performance) on repeat, $60 fresh market floral bouquets on a random tuesday because she simply thought “hey, i’m worth it.” she was an amateur gourmet chef & short order cook who did everything by feel. she always made WAY too much food and had room for one more at the table. we went on j alexanders dates just about every saturday until she stopped driving. she’d pick up an outfit for me almost every time she went shopping because something reminded her of me (it was VERY frequent, which told me how often things reminded her of me) i’d like to say she was my go-to person, but the reality is that she’d check on me before i could even go to her to ask her for advice or help. she had an insane 6th sense about when i needed her—that’s probably what i’ll miss the most. continued in the comments...