3
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“You stop bleeding.”
I’ll wait. Just gonna let you go with this one.
Yes, that’s how she phrased it. My grandma had a way with words. She was the only person I ever knew who could be charming and eloquent one minute, and cussing like a sailor the next. It often depended on her proximity to the liquor cabinet, but she typically found the right words for every situation.
I asked Grandma once, “How do you know when you’re officially grown up?”
“You stop bleeding,” she said.
For context, let me just add that I was like, eleven at the time, and had just seen that gross presentation in health class. So, naturally, I assumed she meant menopause. But then that barometer would effectively leave out half the population, so I pressed for more.
“Does that apply to everybody
