Happy Birthday

70+ years today a remarkable woman was born. She survived poverty. She survived being a sickly child and forced to live with relatives instead of her parents. She met and married the love of her life when she was 21. A good Irish Catholic girl who stayed home and raised 7 kids. She buried one more when she was only a day old. She survived her first triple bypass surgery at the young age of 30. She had many more after that. She survived a near fatal car crash when a bridge fell that was holding her car. It crashed 40 feet to cement, her lower half of her body crushed. The dr's told us there wasn't much hope that she would live. She lived. They told us she wouldn't walk again. She walks, drives, does almost everything she did before. This time with one leg in a permenant brace. She has survived 2 more children who have died. She cared for her husband, who ulitmately died from Cancer. She survived another car crash. This time a tornado ripped a tree from it's roots and tossed it in front of her moving car. She was bedridden for months, but she is up walking again. She is, right now, caring for another one of her kids, my aunt who has Cancer. She is fearless. She is brave. She is loving. She is kind. She can be generous to a fault. She is so remarkable that it is hard for me to even put into words.

When my mom died, I was 5. My grandma took me in. She cared for me as a mother would. She let us (my sister and I) live with our father for the school year and she kept us in the summer.(long story, but my she had custody of us, not my father, but she wanted to do what was right for us) When my dad died and I was having a hard time leaving an abusive boyfriend, she took me in again. She encouraged me to be better. She hugged me when I was sad. She scolded me when I made the wrong choices (and boy, did I make many). She has shared with me my joys and sorrows. She is my idol, my mother and my best friend. She is the grandma to 33 grandkids (I am the oldest) and she makes each one of us feel special and loved.

Happy Birthday Grandma, I love you. There are no words that can really express my feelings accurately for you. You are remarkable and I want to be just like you when I grow up.