Gram

My gram was a brilliant incredible powerful-beyond-measure life-shaking against-the-grain risk-taking positive-energy-creating beautiful woman.

it is so interesting how is takes death to make us look at our life. it takes death to make us wake up and look towards life. my gram was the type of woman that help you find all the joy present in life. she had a fantastic sense of humor, and she could take any subject and shed new light and a whole new perspective on it. I always wondered how she kept such optimism in her life, and on the day of our last visit, 4 days before she left this world she explained it to me, she said "amy, there will come a day in your life when you will realize there is no reason to waste energy being upset about the small things, when it is so much more pleasant to find the good."

One thing I loved about Gram was the way she saw life. She was a little kid, inside an ailing body. She once told me that she felt about 12 years old, trapped in her elderly body. When I was little she was one of the few people who treated me like an equal. She saw all things through my eyes, and created a world of magic and fantasy. She took every situation and found the creative aspects inside, and helped me see the magic and miracle in every day events. We used to play tiddly winks, and modify all the rules so the new goal of the game was to get as many colored chips in her hair as possible. She would have me hold her hand at all times not to make me feel like a little kid, but because I truly believed she "would blow away" if I didn't hold her close to me. She taught me how to find outlets for creativity in art and painting. She taught me how when bad things happen in life it can only make you stronger.... she was living proof of this.

She taught me that above all else, honor love. When you find someone that you love give your whole heart to them, do not hold anything back. Give your whole heart to them.