Happy Birthday Grandma

Yesterday the 23 of August, 2008, was my Grand Mother's 100th birthday party. She is in Sulphur Springs, Texas, in a nursing home and being taken care of by the staff there and my 82 year old Mother. I sure wish I could have been there to celebrate, but I did celebrate and share my joy with the Karaoke crowd at Lovett's Bar in Port Aransas, Texas. My sister Lou Gail, wrote an inspiring blog entry on MySpace that says it better than I ever could. (But then she's a librarian and always could write better than me) I would like to share it with you here:

This has been a great weekend. My little 4'10'' grandmama turned 100 on Saturday and I went up to Sulphur Springs to her birthday party in the nursing home. My mama set the tables up out in the hall outside her room because they can't get her out of bed anymore. We took turns going in her small room to visit with her and try to engage her in what was going on. She's not too responsive any more, so when one of us gets her to talk, that's cause for celebration, even on a regular day. On her birthday, I was the one she honored with a response! I said, "Grandmama, it's Lou Gail....we're here to celebrate your 100th birthday....Wow!" She said weakly, but very clearly, "Wow". It's amazing to think of all of the changes that have occurred in this world in the span of grandmama's life. I am also amazed at my 82-year-old mother, who still goes to Curves every day they are open. She goes to the nursing home to visit grandmama daily, and the lady across the hall told me that she almost always stops in to visit with her also, which she said means so much to her because she doesn't get many visitors and she gets lonely. When I dropped in to chat with her after the birthday festivities, she told me that she could tell that I take after my mother because I had come in to talk with her and ask if she needed anything. It struck me that I am like her and she was like my grandmother....always caring for and serving others until her late 80's when she was no longer able. I feel blessed and proud to be following in the footsteps of these two wonderful women who, like Jesus, have sacrificially loved and cared for so many people. I hope I will be as viable as Grandmama was and Mama is when I reach her age. But most of all, when my time on this earth is over, whether that be 50 more years like Grandmama or less, I hope that the people whose lives I have touched will know that they were loved and served by me as my expression of love, gratitude and service to Him Who loves me.....and them. It's a beautiful cycle, this legacy of Love...."WOW"!

Here is a little Motivational Poster I made to exemplify the amount of "Love" that was in that room yesterday!