82 years of blessings!

Happy happy Tuesday! And today truly is a happy day for me as my grandmother turns 82! Forever grateful for her presence in my life and now in my kids’ lives.

Do you know that my grandmother held me in her womb. Well what would become me. When a baby girl is fully formed in the womb, she already has all of her eggs. So my grandmother wasn’t only carrying my mama, she carried me too. So much of my grandmother is in me. A lot of my childhood was spent in her home because grandmothers are simply the best. So I guess it’s no surprise my kids love spending their days at their grandmother’s house.

According to my grandmother, she couldn’t turn without me being right up under her. Her baked Johnny cakes and bread are the best. Yes I was raised on hot Milo or tea served in a teapot. My grandmother is always willing to help someone and so that house has seen many a people in it. A house that she will let you know she helped build. If you let her, she would probably paint the whole house by herself now. My grandmother is independent. I definitely know where my mother gets it from. Thankfully she doesn’t have a car now so she can’t be up and down like she used to. If she isn’t in the kitchen cooking or baking, she is crocheting or watering her plants.

My grandmother is black excellence. How she raised six kids is beyond me. I am ready to pull my hair out with just two. She has been active in the church and up until last year, was helping the kids prepare for Confirmation. She always has a joke or story to share. And of course, she is absolutely beautiful! Again, the beauty was passed on to my mom who then passed it on to me and I passed it on to my daughter! Both my mother and grandmother are going to shake their heads when they read that.

Grandmothers are truly blessings and shape so much of who we are. Sometimes as we uncover who we are, we have to go back and understand the lives of those came before us. I am grateful that I can still go to her house and harass her for all of the little things. I have a pretty good concept of how her life was but it is still so hard to picture that little girl walking from Cripple Gate to Marigot, and then moving to Cole Bay, and eventually settling in Simpsonbay.

A black woman in Simpsonbay in the 60s. There must be some interesting stories there, but another blog for that. She has taught me to trust God, persevere and never give up. Thank God for her and here is to 82 more!