Cheating on Grandma

There's an older woman at my office who I've struck up a friendship with. Now, when I say "older woman," I know what you're thinking. But this woman is a great deal older than I am, and I assure you there's nothing even mildly romantic about our relationship. But we have become friends, bonding over rival baseball teams, and the fact we are both Jewish in a world that is primarily not. She even invited me over to her house for break fast last Yom Kippur, and, if she hadn't been forty five minutes late, and I had been able to control my unbearable hunger, maybe I would have waited around a little longer for her to come home. Regardless, when she recently asked me to go out for matzah brye with her a local Jewish deli, I was only too happy to oblige. It sounded like fun.

I arrived at the diner about fifteen minutes late. My friend had not yet arrived, but the man at the front had her on the phone for me.

"I'm on my way, we had to drop my grandson at soccer practice." she said. "I'll be there soon."

I took a seat, did the crossword, and sipped hot tea while I waited. About seven minutes later, my friend walked in and took a seat. We discussed the office for a while, some work politics, etc, and then she started to tell me about her family.

And suddenly, it occurred to me. I'm cheating on my grandmas.

I'm fortunate enough to still have two living grandmothers, one of whom still resides in Maryland and the other in Florida. I see both fairly infrequently, both because I'm rarely home and almost never in Florida. But I had to think-if one of my grandmothers walked on this scene-their grandson, sitting in a Jewish deli with another Jewish grandma, well, I think my first instinct would be to stand up and say "It's not what it seems! She's a friend from work! I swear she wasn't telling me about what happened at the hairdresser last week! I haven't even tried her whitefish salad!"

So I sat there, listening to my friend tell me about her family, and her friends, and all the places she'd been. And, all in all, it was a really good time. But as I was walking home, I really got to thinking about my own grandmothers. What if they were going to matzah brye with other, younger, Jewish grandsons? Had I been replaced too, without knowing?

I'd better give them a call.