Sunday Sweetness ~ A Special Birthday

This post is going to be short and sweet, because there is a rocking party to get to.

It’s not for one of my children, or husband, or mother, father, brother, sister-in-law, or niece.

Nope, it’s for the woman who made ALL of this possible.  It is for the matriarch of our family, the woman who keeps everything and EVERYONE together.

Today’s celebration is for my Grandmother. 

90 years is a long time.  But you wouldn’t know it by looking at her. 

I swear she has a larger social calendar than Angelina Jolie.

She’s either going to Tai Chi, or Bowling, or Golfing, or to the Senior Center, or out shopping with her girls on Tuesdays.

She is still in her own home going up and down the stairs to do laundry, and tends to the gardening in her large yard (she can’t STAND it if she isn’t able to get out into her yard even if it is just for a few minutes). She attends every party she is every invited to (she is Norwegian after all) and tells the absolute BEST stories about life, family, and love.

But to me, she is SO much more than what she does from day to day, week to week, or month to month.

She is memories of my childhood, my adulthood, and my motherhood. 

She is waking up to the smell of bacon and Swedish Pancakes in the morning.  The climbing of trees in the afternoon followed by lunch, a game of aggravation, then it’s off to Fred Meyer to pick out a toy.  Then ending the day by going to our favorite Burger place where I finally get to do something for her.  I get to pour her coffee, and bring it to her at our table walking so very carefully so as not to spill a drop.

She is a hug, a kiss, and a smile that will always ALWAYS be there.  Even when you are cleaning your parents blinds because you broke curfew on her watch (by the way, don’t ever mess with Grandma).

She is the woman who can bust out the “YMCA” like no other and did it in a foot cast at my wedding.

She is the story teller of the family and the heritage we came from.  She is the link to the past and the platform to the future. 

She is my children’s Gigi.  And there is only ever ONE Gigi. 

She came to the hospital after all three of my children were born. 

She gives them hugs, smiles, laughs and a listening ear.  She always has an open lap for them to sit on and always has a snuggle waiting in the wings.  She attends each and every one of her great-grandchildrens’ birthdays (the only ones she misses are out of state). 

She creates holiday memories that will carry them through adulthood.   

So today is a special day.

Today, we are celebrating 90 years of kindness, love, and flat out wonderfulness on this earth.

Today I will raise a Gin and Tonic in her honor, and thank her once again for all that she’s done, all that she does, and all that she is.

Happy Happy Birthday Grandma.  You are loved more than you will ever know.