Such a Beautiful Life

I’m a little late posting this week. To be honest, it has been hard to find the words.  Words that do justice in honoring such an amazing person. The world lost an amazing, loving, sassy, smart, tough, beautiful woman last week. She taught me so many things that it’s hard to list them all.

I remember spending time with her as a kid, sitting at the breakfast room table learning everything from how to color, to how to read, to how to speak Spanish.  She helped me with my homework and cooked delicious meals.  There was always dessert. As I got older I remember the joy I would feel coming home from high school on the days she was there cooking dinner. The wonderful smells. There’s nothing like walking into a house where someone has been cooking a delicious meal. Feeding people good food was one way she showed her love. We ate a lot of good food together.

In my college years I had a tradition of calling her every Wednesday on my walk home from class.  She loved hearing about the small stuff and was always telling me I needed to eat more. When I met the love of my life and started bringing him to her house, she would fix him special plates of food. It was the same delicious food we all ate, just plated in a way I only saw her do for him. I’m grateful for the special bond they had, always splitting a beer at family get-togethers.

She taught me how to sew. I remember working on cross-stitch pieces with her as a kid.  She was so meticulous and taught me that the back of a piece should be almost as beautiful as the front. She was always working with her hands and I loved showing her things that I had created with mine. She always took them in with such pride, knowing that she had given me the solid base to explore those arts.

There are things about her that I will always be in awe about.  She was always impeccably dressed, her home was always in order, there were never dirty dishes in the sink, and she had a very green thumb.  She was one of the few people in Houston, Texas that could successfully grow hydrangeas in a flowerbed outside through the relentless summer heat, and some crazy freezes.  Hydrangeas that are now so stunning that they literally took my breath away the first time I walked up to her house after her death.

I have a handful of friends that really took the time to sit and speak with her at a party or a shower.  She never stopped asking about them.  Some of them she hadn’t seen in 8 years, but she still wanted updates on who was getting married, who had children, what their names were and how they were all doing. She found so much joy in those friend’s engagement and pregnancy announcements.

As I flipped through my recent photos of her this week, the overwhelming majority were of her loving on and holding my children. She loved them beyond measure, and in true Nana form was always sneaking them snacks and treats.  If grandparents can get away with just about anything when it comes to spoiling their grandchildren, great-grandparents are untouchable.

It’s been a long, hard week but today I’m grateful. Grateful that such an amazing human impacted my life, grateful for all the time we got to spend together, grateful for every single thing she ever taught me.  I’m grateful for the 96.5 years that she graced this earth, that she never lost her spunk, and that when it was her time to go she was surrounded by family. Family was the single most important thing to her, and the thing that brought her the most pride and joy, so it’s only fitting.

The matriarch of our family is now gone.  Her presence is noticeably missing, but in its place she left us memories and reminders of a life well lived.

Nana, I love you so much.