A century and then some

I always joked that my grandma lived a long time because she never had to drive. She tried once as a teenager, drove up on a tree lawn and decided she would be a passenger moving forward. She never had years taken off her life because of all those bad drivers on the road.

Like the late comedian George Carlin joked: Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

I can remember car rides with her and my grandpa when she described the beautiful fall foliage or some other impressive roadside attraction. My grandpa would respond with a grunt, but grandma kept on enjoying the ride.

Margaret Eileen Rawlins O’Loughin (AKA: Grandma O’Loughlin or Great Grandma O to my kids) passed away September, 15, 2025 at the age of 102. According to the Internet, she was on earth 37,276 days. Her sister is 103 and her brother is 92 (he still drives, disproving my point from above). They had two other siblings who didn’t hit their 90s, but their parents, my great grandparents, did live into their 90s.

When asked what the key to my grandma’s longevity was, she would talk about love, family, friends, that sort of thing. But my great grandpa had a better answer. A bowl of steel cut oatmeal and a shot of whiskey every day. But just one.

Being 1 of 13 grandkids, it helps to have a special “thing,” for lack of a better term. My thing was funny greeting cards. Every Christmas, birthday or card-giving holiday, I felt more pressure to up the ante from the prior year. But it didn’t really matter because I’d get her trademark chuckle and reaction even if the card wasn’t that funny.

That’s a grandma’s job: to make you feel like you were special, no matter what.

So, grandma, it was a privilege to have you on earth for my 45 years. I hope you and grandpa are enjoying a car ride together. Maybe you can give driving a second chance. Let’s just hope heaven doesn’t have any tree lawns.