In one sense, it’s the kind of unremarkable, run-of-the-mill bottle opener you might pick up at a garage sale. It was given to me by my grandmother, who… well, you might have thought she was unremarkable, too.
I called my grandmother Chicken Legs. She was small in stature and when I was really young, I saw her in a bathing suit and said, “You have chicken legs!” and that kinda stuck. What you need to know about her is that, professionally, she was a CPA. But that was a cover.
For 30 years, she was a drug dealer. She imported marijuana from Mexico in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, and my understanding is that she was the number-one importer. She was an individual who ate organic food, was business-smart, very focused, and kind of an amazing person. She lived in Northern California but she wasn’t a hippie. She had a conservative look to her—no wild hair. Under the veneer of an old lady CPA, she ran a very large organization. And it was very much illegal.
We were close, and from a young age, I was able to decipher that something was highly illegal. But at the same time I could see that what she was doing wasn’t bad. I saw happy, healthy, really appreciative people in her house; but I also saw people who were sick, people who needed help. She was positively affecting people’s lives, and that’s why she did it.
My grandmother gave the bottle opener to me at some point after she retired. Every time I use it I’m reminded of who she was and what she stood for. She really wanted to help people and she went against the grain to do it. This has guided me as a person. It’s why I worked in a cardiovascular unit for 10 years, and it’s why I started a nonprofit that introduces kids to mountain sports. My grandmother was a very simple person. She didn’t have a lot of possessions; everything she had meant something to her.
~ Anonymous, founder, nonprofit organization, Boise, ID
