I’m 18, and I graduated from high school last week. People keep asking me what’s next, but honestly, it doesn’t feel like anything’s started. If anything, it feels like something ended too soon, and the world forgot to hit “play” again. Everything still smells like the cafeteria—warm rolls, floor wax, and cleaning spray. Sometimes I think I hear her footsteps in the kitchen, even though I know better.
My grandma, Lorraine, raised me. She was it. The whole deal. She became my mother, my father, and every support beam in my life since the car crash that took my parents when I was just a toddler. She was 52 when she took me in, already working full-time as a cafeteria cook at my future school, living in a house so old it creaked whenever the wind changed. There were no backup plans. Just the two of us and a world that didn’t slow down to help.
The Woman Behind the Counter
Her name was Lorraine, but at school, they called her “Miss Lorraine” or just “Lunch Lady,” as if it were some anonymous job title instead of the woman who practically raised half the kids in town. She was 70 and still came to work before dawn, her thin gray hair tied with a scrunchie she made herself. Every apron she wore had a different fabric—sunflowers, strawberries, or bright checkers. She said they made the kids smile.
Every morning, she’d pack my lunch and leave a sticky note. “You’re my favorite miracle,” or “Eat the fruit or I’ll haunt you.” We were poor, but she never acted like we were missing out. When the heater broke, she called it a “spa night” with candles and blankets. My prom dress was $18 from a thrift store, and she stitched rhinestones onto the straps while humming Billie Holiday. “I just want you to be okay,” she’d say.
The High School Punchline
And I was, until high school made it harder. The whispers started freshman year—low and mean. People would pass me in the hall and mutter, “Better not talk back to her, her grandma might spit in your soup.” Some called me “Lunch Girl” or “PB&J Princess.” They’d mock her Southern accent and the way she said “sugar” or “honey.” One girl, Brittany, asked in front of a group, “Does your grandma still pack your panties with your lunch?”
Everyone laughed. I didn’t. Even teachers heard it, but no one said anything. I tried to shield her, but she knew. She heard the snickers. She stayed kind anyway, slipping extra fruit to the hungry kids and asking about their games. I buried myself in books, scholarships, and the hope of leaving that town. In the spring of senior year, everything changed.
The Thursday the Kitchen Went Quiet
It started as a tightness in her chest. “Probably the chili,” she joked. I begged her to go to the doctor, but she kept saying, “Let’s get you across that stage first.” On a Thursday morning, the house was silent. I found her on the kitchen floor, curled slightly, her glasses beside her hand. The coffeepot was half-full. I screamed, I tried CPR, but the paramedics were too late. “Heart attack.” She was gone before the next sunrise.
She’d been saving all year for my graduation, taking extra shifts for my honor cords. So I went. I wore the dress she picked. I walked into that gym like my bones weren’t made of grief. When they called my name for the student speech, I didn’t look at my notes.
Serving the Truth
“Most of you knew my grandmother,” I said into the mic. The air shifted. I told them she served them thousands of lunches while they mocked her voice and rolled their eyes. I told them she heard every single insult and loved them anyway. “She mattered more than any of you will ever understand,” I said.
There was a hush in the gym so heavy it felt like lead. I saw teachers bow their heads and students blink away tears. When I walked offstage, the applause was slow, steady, and quiet. Brittany approached me in the hallway, her face red from crying. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “We were so mean. We didn’t think.”
Lorraine’s Way
They all looked small and ashamed. They told me they wanted to plant a tree-lined walkway leading to the cafeteria—a place called “Lorraine’s Way.” I went home to an empty house that night and sat at the kitchen table. The apron hook on the wall was empty. I whispered, “They’re going to plant trees for you.”
No one answered, but for the first time in days, I didn’t feel alone. I think she heard me. She taught me how to love out loud, how to endure, and how to forgive. And maybe, if I try hard enough, I can become someone’s polar star too.
