Gai avek! (Go Away) Gutta Nu (So, what now you Putz.) Growing up, My Grandma Braff would always be dressed as if she was at a fancy party, wearing the reddish rouge upon her cheeks, the same color as the bright red one, the glossy shade covering her lips, never leaving the house without a decoration consisting of a necklace two bracelets, and both her engagement ring and a simple gold wedding band. Her shoes were always the same color as her belt, she had one all-purpose pocketbook, and for family engagements or very special occasions her purse (which was a bit smaller and had enough room for her compact, her lipstick, a spritz of perfume, a small brush and comb, an embodied handkerchief, and a plastic rain hat, just in case…) Her hair was always impeccably coiffed, and she only would don a hat, if she knew immediately a mirror would appear at the location from which she expected to visit. She also carried TUMS, just in case, and her grandchildren, were never certain what that case would be, but being prepared was always something my Grandma Braff insisted upon!
Grandma Braff was loving but maintained her survival skills as a 12-year-old girl arriving from Romania, and being settled into her older sisters home, had been told just two things, the first, learn to speak English, because no one likes a Jew, let alone a Jewish Refugee, and get a job, because there are no free meals in America, and what roads that might have been laid in GOLD, have been paved over. Grandma Braff would make the best chicken soup/chicken and rice, and gefilte fish, play Gin Rummy as if her life depended on it, (Never JUST letting any of her grandchildren win, because they were kids,) and loved a good game of Canasta, (which she swore was invented by Romanian Jews!) Her patience was tried and tried, but she always understood that the small things in life were just annoyances, and to TRY, a patience, WAS actually a good lesson in life, teaching the unsuspecting student valuable coping skills for the REALLY IMPORTANT schmutz that could and eventually would fall from the sky. HOWEVER, when a person DID manage, to roil her demeanor, and cause the rest of her face to match the ruby red, or was it fire engine red of her rouge and lipstick, the first words out of my Grandma Braff’s lips were “Gai Avek and Gutta Nu.” (All in one huge HISS) And if, upon Grandma Braff’s arrival, the first thing any of us heard were those two phrases, rather than “I love you,” we all knew something UNBELIEVABLY awful, something, almost beyond REPAIR, something INSIDIOUS had happened, and to make it go away would not be easy!
Each day, as I awake, after kissing my husband good morning, and petting our dog, the words Gai Avek, and Gutta Nu, almost fall out of my mouth, whether, because I know unless there IS a large banner running across my phone stating Trump is Jailed, or Trump has been Banned from the White House, or Trump has gone away (on his own or via the Congress and Secret Service), I KNOW that EVIL still has a strong presence in this nation, and the Devil is STILL holding court. I could, as usual state the myriad of mad machinations, made by Trump, purposely poised to disrupt our democracy and the citizens of this nation (My Nation,) but I grow so tired of repeating the obvious, while so many of HIS cult remain oblivious. Another Day and NOTHING has changed…when. If ever, might it? I have to wonder what kind of conversation goes on when my Grandma Braff looks down at this world she has left behind!
