Today is my Granny's 91st birthday. I love the above picture of her. She is truly beautiful inside and out. Words could not possibly express how much she means to me, but you know I love words so I'll do my best.
As far back as I can remember, my Granny has been an integral part of our lives. She loves the color pink and dancing to Frank Sinatra. She thinks Michael Buble is sexy {I feel weird when anyone over the age of 50 uses that word} and sometimes yells "whiskey!" to make us smile while we're taking pictures. Speaking of picture taking, it is nearly impossible to capture one of her with her eyes open, which is why I love this picture so much.
Well, her eyes are mostly open, but her smile is really my favorite thing about this moment frozen in time. I love so many things about my Granny like the way she closes her eyes when she takes a sip of her tea or the fact that she hollers "woo hoo!" as she walks into the room. Of course, we always stop what we're doing to hug her neck and tell her how nice she looks. And she always looks nice, because if there's one thing my Granny has an appreciation for, it's beautiful things. When it comes to keeping those beautiful things in top condition, she's the best there is. I have yet to see a speck of dust in her home, and she wrote the book on organization. Basically, she's the Queen of Clean and I aspire to run my home the way she has for so many years. Notice I said "aspire" because it's a work in progress. More work than progress. Because trying to clean your house with kids around is like trying to nail jello to a tree.
I will never forget the time she came over to help me unpack when we moved to San Antonio. Every surface was covered with some kind of knick-knack to the point that it looked like the moving truck had vomited our stuff right out the back and into our new house. And don't even get me started on the other boxes still sitting unpacked in our hallways. They were having babies overnight. I promise. She walked right in and set her purse down ready to get to work. She never even knew that as I walked around the corner to get some cleaning supplies I heard her say,
"Well, bless her heart! This place is a mess!"
Bless her for thinking she was stating that fact when I was out of earshot. These days she lives by the idea that honesty is the best policy. I think when you get older you just don't care that your filter is broken. And why should you? You've put in more time on this earth than most of your family so it's best not to leave certain things unspoken.
She's the mom of three boys, a Granny to six grandchildren, a Great-Granny to five great-grandchildren, and the matriarch of the Bauerlein family.
Here's the thing about trying to get a group picture when little people are involved...set your expectations low. And when you think they're low enough, go lower. Please note that neither of my children are smiling. As for the other short people, well, they look about as impressed with this adventure as the rest of the world was with Kanye's Grammy outburst. Real life. Happening 24/7.
She's faced plenty of hardships over the decades of her life. Her first husband, who we called Paw Paw, fought in WWII while she worked and waited for him to come back home. He wrote her some of the sweetest notes, but keep in mind, there wasn't FaceTime. Or email. Or Skype. Many years later, she sent her oldest son to Vietnam. My Paw Paw was attacked one night by someone who stabbed him. God protected him during that incident, but he was unable to fight an infection years later as a result of the measures taken to save his life. Within a week, she was saying goodbye to her best friend and the love of her life. I have such respect for the strength she has modeled for all of us through the good times and bad!
More than anything, I want her to know how thankful I am for loving us so well over the years. She has spent countless weeks helping to take care of us when we were babies or my parents went out of town. She came to San Antonio when I had my tonsils out and kept my room dusted. Obviously, my mom had never loved her more. We spent a week with her every summer and thanksgivings around her table. She cooked Chicken and Dumplings, her specialty, more times than I can count. We've laughed at the things she says and the stories she can tell.
Her memory has begun to fade, and we know that God will call her home long before any of us is ready. When that day comes, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that her legacy will be remembered and passed down through the generations of our family. She has lived out 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and I can't think of a better person to celebrate this close to Valentines Day.
Happy Birthday, Granny!
I wish I could be there to sing Happy Birthday and tell you in person how thankful I am that God chose you to be my Granny. You hold a special place in my heart that no one else will ever fill. I love you!!
No comments:
Post a Comment