THE EMPRESS I WAS TRAINED TO BE: A Tribute to My Grandma, Elaine S Frank

She was elegant, glamorous, absolutely magnificent, in every sense of the word. If you were to be touched by my grandma, you were blessed. Never a cruel word was spoken about her. At least… none that I ever heard.

She sat at her throne and she ruled, in every sense of the word. And she was the most kind-hearted, powerful, confident, self-assured absolutely beautiful human being.

When you walked into a room with her, she demanded presence. People were always honoured to be in her presence. She would wave like a queen and taught us to wave like a princess. And like a true Queen… would treat all humans with the same level of respect.

She was always adorned in gold and diamonds and other beautiful jewels. It didn’t matter if you would see her in public or at her home… she was dressed up with make-up on.

There were beautiful, sit down dinners every night as she had someone cook for her every night. We had multiple courses for meals when we had dinner on any random weeknight at her house. She would ring a bell when she was ready to have the food taken and the next course brought in.

We had 50+ family dinners and the tradition still continues at other family member’s houses for big family dinners… for each and every family holiday. ALL families welcome… so all the in-laws would come too so that no one had to decide where to spend the holidays. And they would be beautiful sit-down meals that were fully catered.

She would take us shopping. Shopping trips with Gram were ALWAYS fun. The best quality because she could. Jimmy Choo, Prada, Gucci, Channel… she would wear it all and buy the best for us too.

She smiled from ear to ear. She was so funny. She loved to tell dirty jokes that would have us all cracking up. Her laugh was contagious and straight from the soul.

To hold her hand was a beautiful silky experience. I used to love walking with her, holding her on my arm… hands linked. Or sitting next to her on her chair and holding her hand. Her sweet, fragile, soft hand. I could sit there for ages with her… often watching a Cubbies game or something else. Or having some beautiful heart to heart conversation.

She rubbed shoulders in parties and social events with some of the most famous people of her time like Frank Sinatra. She went to many Presidental inaugurations, including holding the hand of JFK.

My Gram always smelled beautiful.

There were always fresh flowers in her house. Her nails and hair professionally done every week.

People came to her to give her massages and personal training every week.

She sat at Board room tables with very successful men as the only woman there for most of her life… including being the first female President for the JCC Chicago (Jewish Community Centre). She was also 1 of the first 4 women to graduate from University of Chicago Business School around 1938. She studied with some of the greatest business minds of our time and never stopped.

Even in her 80s, she flew to the UK to study at Oxford for a few summers. Yes… THE Oxford. I think she is soo cool. She stayed at the dorms and went to class with kids in university because… SHE WANTED TO.

I think it was the only time in her adult life that she had to do laundry and did it in the coin dorm laundry. I smile at the thought of that. Imagine being the student with an 80yo AMERICAN with a billion dollar company in your class. If the young kids were smart… they found it fascinating and went out for a meal with her to learn about her life. They would have been blessed by an amazing experience.

Simply being in her presence… your vibrations would raise.

She was an Empress, a Philathropist, a Community Leader and a Trailblazer.

I loved playing games with Gram. Rummikub, Scrabble, Bridge and Mah Jong were some of her favourites. She was sharp as a tack into her late 90s.

She loved Vodka and would never drink alone. So there was often someone roped into a drink with her.

My gram was the centre of my Earth. She is one of the people I absolutely admire the most in my life.

She taught me everything a person needs to know to be an Empress, a trailblazer, a leader and a philanthropist.

And I love her so deeply. I have every breath of my life.

She is everywhere with me, in every room of my home.

For 1.5 years she has been asking me to tell her story.

For that time… I have studied my Gram. Studied my family. Learned so much about the dynamics and stories that I could never have understood, being in it… as a kid. It was simply my life.

The story will begin to be even more expressed… through MY story.

For years… I have not shared so much of my story for fear of what others will think or say…

I have not shared publicly for fear of hurting my family. For fear of other’s being upset with me for doing it MY way… which is in honour of but different from my Gram.

But the fact is… it’s my story.

And I get to create MY story.

I get to be an Empress that is SENSUAL, Embodied, creative, in touch with the earth and the cycles, witchy, goddess-like, galactic, speaks to the spirits and other galaxies, channels languages from places far beyond this earthly system, loves crystals and other magical tools, loves to dance a fully embodied FREE dance…

I am this and so much more.

And I am embodying the archetype of EMPRESS… but that will never mean that I can ever replace the True Empress that my gram is to me. I simply dream of living a life that is a quarter as impactful as my Gram. If I do that… I’m doing a great job in my lifetime.

I sit here, staring at the picture of my Gram who guides me day in and out… feeling so absolutely blessed to have her as my role model in life and my guardian angel looking after me and guiding me.

I often think to myself… I created a great soul-contract in this lifetime to have been so blessed to be born into this family.

This… all that I am creating…Is in honour of my Gram. It always has been.

This is for an amazing woman who led the way for those of us trailblazing now to walk in her footsteps behind her… and to be able to do so in a soul-aligned way that is absolutely perfect for the way you and I are meant to light up this world.

If you are one of those women who knows you are called to a more fully expressed, abundant version of yourself… join me on this path. The path has been broken for us… let’s join elbows and change the world.

Comment below #trailblazer if you are with me!

Humbly yours and with love…

Your sensual, witchy, magical, crystal loving, open-hearted, deeply loving Empress that wants to show you your way back to your natural state of bliss…

Keri

PS- this pic is my favourite pic of my grandma. She is so beautiful and the epitome of an Empress.