My mom’s name was Delia Delgado. My grandma’s name was Blanca Delgado. My mom made the best tacos, bought her first car when my brother was old enough to drive it and worked 6 days a week.
My grandma was the matriarch of a family of 5 children, 11 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. She kissed my little cousins until they made faces that begged to be saved, she was addicted to sweets, and thought 8pm was too late to be out.
If you’re reading this you now know more about my mom and grandma than some of my closest friends do.
Both my mom and my grandma died. My mom in 2003 and my grandma in 2014. For many they are reduced to the dates of their death and the days leading up to it. If you think about it, that’s pretty sad. They lived for decades and are now only remembered for the ways they died.
I sat down with Jennifer Niven, author of All The Bright Places, a couple of months ago and of all the parts of her book that I loved, I zeroed in on a small, shared moment between the two protagonists. In the moment, Finch asks Violet to tell him about her sister who had passed away.
In some odd way it’s the first time I realized how natural and necessary that question should be.
I have stories I’m sitting on when it comes to my mom and grandma. I’d like for people to understand that just because they’re not in my life presently doesn’t mean they impact my life any less.
I wish more people would ask me to tell them stories; to help me keep their stories alive.
In partnership with Germ Magazine, Too Damn Young is asking you a question you’ve probably never been asked either — won’t you #TellUsAboutThem?
Through the week of August 17th, we want you to #TellUsAboutThem through 15 second videos and personal essays. If you’re considering the video, send them to us at tellus@germmagazine.com
If you want to #TellUsAboutThem in a longer essay format, email vivian[at]toodamnyoung.com
We’re dubbing August 21st #TellUsAboutThem Day! On this day in particular we want to see all of you use the hashtag #TellUsAboutThem and tag @2DamnYoung + @Germzine in special, story-filled Instagrams and Twitter posts.
To learn more about how #TellUsAboutThem came to be, read my note on germmagazine.com.
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