Grateful for my Grandmother

She barely opened her eyes during our visit, but I know that she was aware of our presence. As her newly manicured hand held on to her great granddaughter’s hand, I had to fight back tears knowing that that this will more than likely be our last holiday season with her. In July, my 90 year old grandmother fell in her assisted living center, and since then, she has never fully recovered. Now in the care of hospice nurses, we ride the emotional wave that is loving someone at their closing of life. My mother has selflessly and courageously cared for, visited, loved, listened to, helped, and advocated for her own mother, and my aunts have been an invaluable source of emotional and physical care to my mother.

During a week that Americans count their blessings, and brace themselves for a busy holiday season, I want to take a few moments to share the gratitude I have for my grandmother, Janet Martin.

I am grateful for Dairy Queen sleepovers in June. I am grateful she let my cousin and me jump on her bed. I am grateful she drove me in her banana yellow Ford Escort to dance class, and that she told me at every intersection how much she loved her car. I am grateful that she always told me how proud of herself she was for quitting smoking cold turkey. I am grateful for the times we spent watching The Golden Girls on Nick at Nite. I am grateful for her love of Coke, and her disdain for Pepsi. I am grateful for how smart and well read she is. I am grateful that she always had orange sherbet in her freezer.

I am grateful for her example of strength, resilience, and humor. I am a better person because of the 41 years of influence she’s had on me as her granddaughter. The world is a better place because she was a part of it for over 90 years.

Who are you grateful for his year? What memories do you have of them? Who has been the person to shape your life? How will you continue to honor them in the New Year?

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas.