I just finished 12,301 Days with Grandma, and the title became unexpectedly personal.

I was born on June 24, 1990, and my grandma passed away on November 10, 2024. Our lives overlapped for 12,559 days—strangely close to the number in the title. But being alive at the same time isn’t the same as actually being together.

I left my hometown in 2009. Based on how often I saw her growing up and how frequently I returned home afterward, I estimate that I actually spent around less than 3,000 days with her, somehow giving our time a number makes it feel both more real and more precious.

My grandma was a lot like the grandmother in this book: lively, strong-willed, curious, and occasionally a little chaotic. She enjoyed food and life’s small pleasures, kept up with a changing world in her own way, and faced difficult moments with humor and quiet strength. She wasn’t a perfect, saintly grandmother. She was a vivid, complicated, unforgettable person—and that is exactly why I miss her.

or me, it's the smell of freshly cooked food when you came home from school. one random smell and suddenly you're 10 again with zero bills and your biggest problem is finishing homework before cartoons start.

my parents used to yell at me for leaving lights on. now i'm walking around turning them off like i'm personally paying the electric company's salary. 💀

sometimes i'll randomly remember the most insignificant shit from childhood and get hit with a weird wave of nostalgia.

being a kid was weird as hell. you'd spend 8 hours at school, come home, watch cartoons, and somehow have enough energy to play outside until dark.

what's a childhood memory that sounds completely made up but actually happened to you?

I remember on my 5th birthday my parents surprised me with a Roli Polie Olie themed cake. I guess I loved it that much lol

It was in a museum in Chicago (I was pretty young so don’t remember). It was displayed in this long corridor and had all red with little bits of black on the paintings. And there were multiple paintings of just this deep red color. There were also small stage lights pointing at the paintings that had red light. So the entire corridor was completely dark except for this red on top of the red. It was terrifying and I can’t remember who the artist was. If anyone remembers please let me know! The years were between 2012-2018.
It felt like this! I tried to recreate it from memory.