You have a long journey today, so I am sending you loving thoughts and prayers.
I hope you can feel the strength of them from afar. I hope they keep you warm.
I cried when I read your words about your grandmother and her flight from Hungary and her move to hospice.
living in gratitude©
But I was heartened by what you wrote about her strength and the lessons she has taught you, a young woman building a bright life in a new city.
Grandmothers are forever, my friend.
Whenever I learn that someone still has a grandmother in their life, I congratulate them and remark on their good fortune. Grandmothers are most precious.
My grandmothers were young when they died — young by today’s standards of longevity — and I have missed them both keenly for decades.
One, from Finland, taught me about sisu, that inner strength and resilience that is at the core of our family culture. She laughed and walked a lot in Toronto with her collie, Laddie, and smoked too much, and was a favorite among all the grandchildren for her Finnish cuisine, and her fun-loving approach to life. For her, family was all.
The other grandma, first generation from tough Scots, didn’t express affection as easily. The rigors of farm life — especially on women who did field work and all the housework and most of the child care — didn’t allow for a lot of laughter. But her tough exterior was another example of womanhood to me and my sisters. She shared her Scottish wisdom in no-nonsense ways.
Both my grandmothers were generous and loving, as I sense yours is too.
We celebrate these women all our lives, and they live in us. I often think, still, how much these two very different elders shaped me when I was young. It took far too many years to fully appreciate their influence.
I am so very glad you’ve shared your grandmother with us, through your writing. I want to learn more about your grandma’s life and about the two of you, together. I want to hug you both, and celebrate the wisdom of women between generations.
Peace for both of you — two very special women — and all your family on this journey, Kathleen
One of my grandmothers was loving, to a fault. She had 36 grandchildren, but I was the first and always felt special. Nevertheless, each birthday and Christmas, for each of us, Nana had the perfect, wonderful gift. She learned all the names of the hockey players for her grandsons who loved hockey. She always had a kind word.
The other one lost her husband in her 60′s. She became strong and smart in the money markets, parlaying the modest sum of money he left into a living for herself for another 35 years, and left a tidy fortune for her daughters. She also held positions of leadership in her church, and I began to admire her as a leader, not just as a housewife as I had seen other members of my family.
Yes they both have an influence on me to this day.
Thanks so much for sharing such wonderful anecdotes about your grandmothers. I see their influence in you, now I know a little of their remarkable stories.
Thank you.
Trust me, I feel the love and warmth you are sending my way.
I am so grateful for YOU Kathleen.
Thank you.
Trust me, I feel your love and warmth the world over and it means so much.
I’m eternally grateful for you Kathleen.
as I am, always, for you, my dear friend.