Today...

is my Grandmother's birthday. My grandmother is no longer with us. It's been almost 8 years since she passed away. I still think of her often, like the other day when I was ironing my clothes...I wondered what she was going to be doing that day, would she be in her garden, getting her hair done, visiting with her newcomers...then I remembered she isn't even here anymore to do those things. How heavy my heart became.
You see, my grandmother played a huge role in my life. Although not perfect, she provided consistency in my life when there wasn't any. She made home cooked meals that we ate at the table almost everynight, she bought me school clothes, took me shopping and outshopped me...I watched her put on her "hair and make-up" everyday, canned plum jam with her, grocery shopped, learned how to iron and type. We share(d) a love for gardening and flowers and getting our hands and nails dirty in the soil, cooking and baking, make-up(I don't think a day ever went by when she didn't do her hair and make-up and when she died, my sister and I re-did her make-up for her as she lay peacefully in her casket), laundry, housekeeping, celebrity gossip. I watched some of my first "big girl" movies with Grandma, like Dirty Dancing, Pretty Women and Little Women. Grandma always kept busy around the house, always doing something.
Grandma died way too soon. Although she did get to see me get married and know Steven, she never got to see me graduate college which was important to her, she never saw me pregnant and never got to meet my boys, she will never see my flower or vegetable gardens or taste my meals and baked goods which are inspired by her...I miss her so very much and today on her birthday I hope she knows what a special woman she was to me and in my life.
I miss you Grandma~