A 92-year-old grandmother has gone viral as her granddaughter showcased her daily ritual: a homemade margarita.
Sarah Donde has a close relationship with her grandmother, Jean, a “proper cockney” born in London, England, but who has spend the last 55 years of her life in South Africa.
“We have a very special relationship,” Donde told Newsweek. “Since my grandfather died in 2015, she has taken me on her trips she used to take with him, and shared a lot of the moments she would have previously shared with him, with me. When she is lonely or needs to rant, I am the person she calls, and vice versa.
“I feel really lucky to have this special relationship with her. It is less of a grand[parent]-grandchild relationship and more of a best-friends relationship,” Donde said.
On their cruise trips—which included adventures to Singapore, Sydney, Beijing and Brazil—Jean got into the habit of getting a nightly margarita at 6 p.m., and drinking it while listening to music in the piano lounge.
And this habit followed her home, with Jean now enjoying a home-mixed margarita every evening at 6 p.m., often chatting with her granddaughter over the phone as she drinks it.
As Donde said: “I have lived overseas since 2020, and so our relationship has become a hybrid online one where I often call her in the evenings and she will say, ‘Hang on, just making my margarita!’”
Donde shared a video of Jean’s nightly ritual to her TikTok account, @sarahednod, on June 11, where it exploded in popularity, with more than 2.4 million views and close to 500,000 likes.
In the video, Jean grins at the camera as she mixes up her drink in a cocktail shaker, as Donde says: “My nanna is 92 and she makes herself a margarita every evening at 6 p.m.
“I live in a different country to her, but when I go visit, I make sure I’m downstairs at 6 p.m. sharp to watch her. Sometimes, I call her right after just to hear her say, ‘Right, I’ve just made my margarita; let’s talk.’
Donde finished by saying, “Every time I’m sad I think about this,” and added in a caption: “I just love her so much.”
TikTok users loved the video and Jean’s daily ritual, as one commenter joked: “Your nanna does not look 92 & she has a daily 6 p.m. margarita. Obviously these two pieces of information are related and I’ll be adding a 6 p.m. margarita to my schedule.”
Another asked: “How many years has she been doing this for? Wanna know when to start.”
Others pleaded for Jean’s “fountain of youth margarita recipe,” as a third posted: “I see my future and it’s bright.”
One comment read that “she chose happiness.”
The relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren is an important one across society: in 2023, around 2.71 million children lived in a household with their grandmother and grandfather, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Donde said that her cousins took part in a cocktail-making course and would treat their grandmother to a margarita, which she believes “is where her real joy for them originated.”
Donde added: “If we go to a restaurant or bar and she orders a margarita, she always goes up to the bartender and tells them exactly how she likes it made!”
Responding to the huge online reaction to her video, Donde said she has videos of Jean shaking her margarita from every trip she takes home to visit her. She added that “it brings tears to my eyes every time I go back and watch. It has been such a joy for more people to get to experience this joy.”
“Just knowing that no matter what kind of a day I have had, that she will be making and having a margarita at 6 p.m., it provides me with a lot of comfort and love.”
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