Not that my lovely little grandmother will ever see this but I put together this collage to celebrate her 98th birthday. I made the difficult decision to not fly out to California this year to visit her and I'm more upset about that than I thought I'd be. And I'd anticipated quite a bit of unhappiness. Anyway, today's her big day and I'm happy to report that she's still going strong. Some of these pictures I took at previous years' birthday celebrations and others were obviously taken before my time.
She's had an amazing life and is a wonderful storyteller. Just when I think I've heard all of her tales about growing up in Germany, becoming a midwife (her midwife class is seen in the middle picture), surviving the war, emigrating to the United States, and making a life here she surprises me with something I've never heard before. My favorite new story is how she turned down marriage to a local boy, what would have been a stable, sensible match, because she knew she had too much of a sense of adventure to settle in the village. She wanted to see the world so worked to make that happen.
Anyway, I miss her as I miss my entire family and I'm glad to have had so many opportunities to spend time with her as I grew up.
2 comments:
That is so sweet girl. I can only imagine it's not easy always flying out there, but it sounds like you've been able to make it may times, and you've had many wonderful birthdays with her. How awesome that she tells you all those stories, I too love listening to my grandma!!
You created a beautiful collage girl!!
Happy Birthday to your grandma!!
Hugs, Bella :)
98 and still going strong?! I hope I'm as lucky as she is. Sorry you couldn't be with your family for her birthday, that's never an easy decision to make.
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