INTO SIMPLICITY

As we get older, life has a tendency to simplify itself down to the necessary. Necessities of survival, of comfort, and of understanding. We seek to move through the world with some sense of control, familiarity, and if we're lucky, humor.  My grandmother has had an incredibly complicated and eventful life. Ranging from the lows of fleeing a war-torn country and growing up in refugee camps, to the highs of storybook love, world travels and lifelong friendships. She is now in her early nineties and in many ways, her life continues to simplify itself.

A sunroom that used to be filled with the smoke and loud laughter of a dozen Russian surnames playing bridge, now serves as a quiet reading room for one. Yet it’s still a place that delivers comfort. Now simplified down to the familiarity of her favorite chair and a good book. Her single crystal glass of white wine is a bittersweet replacement to the ornate table settings for twenty person dinner parties, which she used to preside over with equal parts grace and swagger.

On a recent visit I sat down with her and tried to capture a glimpse of her life as it is now, and the stories of how it used to be, before it gets simplified even more.