Lessons from My Grandma on Her Birthday

My grandma taught me so much about simple. Today is her birthday and if she were still alive, she would be 95 years old. Boy, do I miss her.

We often laugh with such fondness at so many memories of her, and the one thing that I always remember is her simplicity. She didn’t need much. She didn’t want much. But she sure loved much.

We always joke at how no matter what she did that day, she always ended the day with, “Didn’t we have a wonderful time?” She was always looking for the positive. She was excited about the little things.

Life is so fleeting. This summer I have been reminded, and have even struggled with, just how fleeting this life is. How things we take so seriously, don’t  really mean that much…and how we need to really understand our life is just a vapor. Here today and gone tomorrow. I look back at my Grandma’s life and remember her saying how fast time goes, and how you never know what each day will bring. She was so right.

Time truly flies. Days pass quicker and quicker. I am continually reminded that this life is temporary. Heaven is eternal.

“You can’t take it with you,” is another thing that she taught me. As my Grandma got older and I was preparing to be married, she would give me things. Knick knacks, kitchen things, material items, house stuff.  She would say, “I may as well give it away because I can’t take it with me when I’m gone.” While I have some of those items still, I am reminded of the things that I DO take with me from her…and they were not material. They were the memories, the lessons, the spirit. The love.

The things that carry from one generation to the next are not things at all.  Besides the hand me down bowls I have…it is the lessons we teach the next generation.

To love. 
To truly live. 
To not get so caught up in the here and now, we forget that this life isn’t what we are living for. It is the next one that will last forever.

So Happy Birthday Grandma. Thank you for the lessons you taught me. Thank you for the LOVE you ALWAYS showed me unconditionally. Thank you that you live through me into the next generation….and they may share that same grateful spirit and simple heart.

And may we always end everyday with the positive attitude of what wonderful time we had.

May I end my life on this earth someday knowing I lived it well…with a grateful heart.