- Joined
- Apr 11, 2012
- Messages
- 5,489
- Reaction score
- 609
past and present?
Someone who made a big difference for the good. Someone who taught you something priceless, loved you when no one else did, saved you.
For me it was my maternal grandmother, gone about ten years now. She was the most selfless, giving, nurturing person I've ever had in my life. She was born and raised very poor to immigrant parents, never thought of herself first, or even second, an embodiment of the notion that it is better to give than receive. Simple, found joy in the simplest of things - she once told me that that was her secret to life - but not unintelligent; there was nothing you could tell her that she wouldn't be able to grasp. I have never met anyone before or since who was so comfortable in her own skin. And she raised me for most of my childhood.
While my parents were off doing what a lot of divorced people do, trying to find happiness for themselves, my grandmother, though she worked a full time job in a toy store - what a big bonus for a kid - was always there for me, taught me, an admitted excitement freak, how to find joy in the simple things. And though I still struggle with this, when I get too lost or depressed I hear her words, feel her presence, and it centers me.
How 'bout you? It's good to recognize the people who gave us, taught us, and love us most.
Someone who made a big difference for the good. Someone who taught you something priceless, loved you when no one else did, saved you.
For me it was my maternal grandmother, gone about ten years now. She was the most selfless, giving, nurturing person I've ever had in my life. She was born and raised very poor to immigrant parents, never thought of herself first, or even second, an embodiment of the notion that it is better to give than receive. Simple, found joy in the simplest of things - she once told me that that was her secret to life - but not unintelligent; there was nothing you could tell her that she wouldn't be able to grasp. I have never met anyone before or since who was so comfortable in her own skin. And she raised me for most of my childhood.
While my parents were off doing what a lot of divorced people do, trying to find happiness for themselves, my grandmother, though she worked a full time job in a toy store - what a big bonus for a kid - was always there for me, taught me, an admitted excitement freak, how to find joy in the simple things. And though I still struggle with this, when I get too lost or depressed I hear her words, feel her presence, and it centers me.
How 'bout you? It's good to recognize the people who gave us, taught us, and love us most.