Grandma

Submitted by girlbert on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 10:35am
in
A horse girl like me - Grandma T aboard Sammy
Post: 

Today is my late Grandma Tomlin's 100th birthday.  Even as a silly, eye-rolling (all grandchildren do that, right?) kid, I appreciated my Grandma's incredible strength, humor, and that she was a horse girl, like me.  As I got older, I recognized and admired how she held her incredible strength and sense of humor through all things.  Grandma "T" was a divorced, single mom in the fifties, LONG before it was the thing to do, and she raised my dad to amazingness in spite of how hard it must have been.  She never stopped laughing, and making all of us laugh, even as her body and mind began to fail her before she passed away.

To celebrate this big day for Grandma and I, I'd like to share a funny story about my most recent stay in the hospital.

I had been meditating in my hospital bed, Boyfriend sound asleep to my left, when the nurse came in to take my vitals at 5:50am.
"Good morning, I'm Jenny.  Sorry to wake you, but I need your vitals."
"It's okay - you already get brownie points because your name is Jenny - one of my closest friends is a Jenny."
"Well actually the latin version is Juanita, but I go by the American version because I like it better."
"Really?  I didn't know the American version of Juanita was Jenny.  Juanita was my grandma's name.  I guess it's no coincidence I like Jennys, huh?"
Or that I had just been talking to Grandma T.

I have long sought out Grandma's strength and humor during my own hard times, knowing that I hold some piece of her within me.  And it never fails - Grandma has always been there when I need her.  So I'm celebrating her all the more today by taking her with me as I go for my first radiation treatment. 

Happy birthday, Grandma.  Thank you.

Comments

Amazing Grandmas

Submitted by Tanya (not verified) on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 3:44pm.

First of all, I just want to let you know that I have been, am currently, and will continue to be praying for you and propelling all of the positive, healing energy that I can muster to you!  When you are feeling up to it (I know this process isn't easy), please continue to keep us (your fans, friends, loved ones!) posted on how things are going.  I feel good about about this -- not, of course, the "tuber"-- but I feel like you are gaining strength and depth and amazing power as you fight this battle.  And I always like to see that miracles can come from our darkest moments.  Obviously, those are just my observations, but I hope you have experienced that too!

Also, thanks for sharing that wonderful story about your grandma!  I had and continue to have the same sort of relationship with my grandma, who was also a single working mother back in those days.  She was always full of joy and determination and generosity, during the hardest times and struggles.  Girl Power is alive and well!

Girl Power

girlbert's picture
Submitted by girlbert on Thu, 10/08/2009 - 9:33pm.

Our grandmas were well ahead of their time, huh?  Thanks for sharing, as always.

XOXO

Humor!

rebelprince26's picture
Submitted by rebelprince26 on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 3:54pm.

I can't believe I failed to mention how FUNNY Grandma was.  Thanks for reminding me.  She definitely inspired the Tomlin sense of humor.

 

And I LOVE that picture! Where did you get it? I don't think I've ever seen it before!

You remembered everything else...

girlbert's picture
Submitted by girlbert on Thu, 10/08/2009 - 9:26pm.

Put it together, and we remembered everything between the two of us.  ;-)

And I got that picture from Mom & Dad for Christmas a few years back.  After reading this, Dad asked me the same thing.  ;-)

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