When I stepped up to the podium at graduation, I wasn’t planning to make anyone uncomfortable. I was supposed to talk about dreams and futures and inspirational quotes pulled from the internet. But as I looked out at the gym filled with classmates — some of the same people who had spent years laughing at my grandmother — something shifted. My grandma, Lorraine, had worked in that very building as the cafeteria cook. To them, she was just “the lunch lady.” To me, she was the woman who raised me after my parents died, who kept the lights on, who packed my lunches with handwritten notes that said things like, “You’re my favorite miracle.” And suddenly, I knew the speech I had written wasn’t the one I needed to give.
My grandmother took me in when she was already in her fifties, working long hours in the school cafeteria. She wore handmade aprons covered in strawberries and sunflowers, believing bright fabric could make a hard day softer. We didn’t have much money, but she never let me feel poor. When the heater broke, she turned it into a “spa night” with blankets and candles. When I needed a prom dress, she found one at a thrift store and stitched rhinestones on it by hand. At school, though, things were different. Students mimicked her accent, rolled their eyes at her kindness, and joked that she’d “spit in the soup” if someone upset me. They called me names because she still packed my lunch and kissed my cheek. What they didn’t realize was that she heard them — and chose kindness anyway.