Today I Am Thankful

Today I am thankful for my grandma. She is 103 years old, God bless her. She is almost blind, deaf in one ear and can’t hear well in the other. She needs help walking, and is very demanding on the phone when something goes wrong and needs fixing (she wants it taken care of NOW). She’s cold all the time so her thermostat is set at 85 degrees (I have shorts and a tank top I leave in my car, even in winter, for extended visits to her house).

But she is so much more than that. She is the woman in the photo at age 19.  She is the woman who crawled around on the ground with me when I was a toddler, who hand-sewed Barbie clothes, and played board games as I grew older . She let us climb her Queen Anne cherry tree and pick the fruit off the tree, sometimes not leaving any to bring back down for her. We baked bread and sweet rolls together, shared family recipes, and she taught me to sew on her Singer (1929 with the knee paddle). I learned how to crochet and needlepoint and make French knots and cross stitches from her. Drive-in movies, Christmas dinners, catching lightning bugs, hugs and kisses and special treats…

Sometimes it’s difficult to bring up that vibrant, laughing woman who reigned as a true matriarch of the family, especially when I see her today in the hospital, confused, scared, not able to stand by herself or take care of personal hygiene. That’s when her legacy really kicks in. When you are loved all your life so unconditionally, you instinctively return that love and care a hundredfold. Just as she held me and washed me and was unendingly patient with me, so I must be with her. Not out of a sense of duty, although she did instill that in me; no, it is out of a sense of unconditional love returned…and a sense of gratitude for all the many years I have had her in my life.

So in celebration of my grandma, I made a mixed media canvas a few months back to remind me that while she and everyone else grows into old age, in my heart SHE is forever young.

What are you thankful for?  Does it inspire you to create with paint or paper or words?  Share your story or your craft with Path of Positivity Challenge Blog.  Show them your interpretation of what being thankful means to you. You can make any sort of project and/or post as long as it is positive in nature and relates to the theme.  Each challenge will be open from the first Monday of one month to the Sunday before the first Monday of the next month. When you link up, leave a comment summarizing what it is about your post that you feel is inspirational / positive / motivational and if it isn't obvious, how it fits with the theme.  A top seven will be chosen by the entire Design Team (DT) and will be posted in a separate post. You will then have one full week to vote on the creation or post that you have found to be the most inspirational of the bunch.

Whether you participate in the challenge or not, everyone needs some positivity in their daily lives, so go take your medicine with a spoonful of sugar and you'll feel better immediately!!