Happy Birthday Grandma! Part 1

Today would have been my grandmothers 109th birthday.  She passed away four years ago at 105.  We all still miss her and her love.  Grandmothers, loving grandmothers, are like that.  I was in my forties and it was still too early for her to leave.  I miss her hands, her kisses and her essence. 

I happened on this post on Patheos, about the influence of grandmothers on granddaughters.  This focuses on religion for the most part but my grandma was a big influence on me.  When I am in my garden, it is because I want to be more like my grandmother.  A woman who met each challenge with a can do/will do spirit. I remember her lamenting at 101 that she was discouraged that she couldn’t work in her garden anymore because her second pair of knees were giving out.  I remember chuckling and reminding her that while I understood, one hundred plus years was a really good warranty!  Her humor, her faith, her self  was a gift to me and each and every one of my siblings especially during times of uncertainty or instability.  She was the rock of our family.  She prayed the rosary every day and I am certain that there were times that she was the sole carrier of our woes to God. 

An extraordinary woman who I am graced to be named after, her first kindness to me was to be certain my mother didn’t name me Mildred or Nina, (pronounced Nine-a…two names she hated!) so Mom gave me the middle name of Cecilia (her confirmation name) and I in turn gave it to my youngest daughter…in the hope that she can emulate Grandma’s faith. Born on a farm in the Tug Hill of New York State (considered one of the snowiest terrains in the nation) as one of nine children.  A couple of siblings lost to illness and life on a farm was always about work.  An ethic she carried to her dying days.  She married my grandfather, also a farmer and set about making their life.  Bearing all of her children at home.  Refusing to take her share of rations during the war because they were farmers and had food set aside.  When she was told to take it anyway, she refused and simply stated, “I don’t need it” knowing there was someone else who did.  And that was Grandma in a nutshell.  Never “needing” what the rest of the world thought she should.  Always working more than her part.  Always knowing that it was the grace of God that allowed it and always making sure that those around her knew that she knew it.  More tomorrow for now here is the article for your perusal.http://www.patheos.com/blogs/scienceonreligion/2012/12/how-are-religious-values-passed-down-through-families/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Pan%20Patheos%201.6.13%20(1)&utm_content=&spMailingID= 

Wife, mother, blogger, Catholic ministry. I love to garden even when it goes wrong. Same with writing (and we know it can go wrong.) Believing that God is present in all of it.

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