Their are two sides to every story...quite a bit of my story comes directly from two very different yet very inspiring, amazing women.
My Grandmother was a one of a kind. In fact, both of my Grandma’s were simply amazing and each in their own way.
My Grandma Betty was a feisty one…Finnish and feisty; vibrant and welcoming to everyone, loving and a little firecracker. And little… she was 4 feet 10 inches… just a tiny little thing. But that in no way stopped her. She would stand up for anyone or anything she believed in with such intensity. Always welcoming to everyone of all walks of life and never apologizing for who she was. She was the only woman worker in a plant full of men. Her little, big boobed self would never even for a second shy away from standing tall for what she needed or wanted in a sea of men harassing her daily. She, in essence was a woman who embodied the feminist movement. The, ‘Ugh…hell yeah… I can do the same job as you, have you harass me every day, and still do a better job than you’. “BOOM” She was feisty too, even into her late 70’s she expressed her sexuality with pride. Her and her husband were always displaying their love and flirtatious ways. It was actually really, really impressive and inspirational. She loved hard, in all ways. She loved her work, she loved her kids, she loved her 2 husbands, she loved her grandkids, and she loved her friends. And friends she had too. Always making friends everywhere she went yet somehow never sacrificing who she was as a person along the way. She was who she was and was not apologizing for it. She is a woman who had suffered loss yet always stood back up. She may have had sorrow but never placed her sorrow on the shoulders of another. I know her as someone who had a tremendously big heart and so did everyone who came to know her.
My Grandma Grace was calm and a voice of reason; always ready to serve up a hot plate and provide a warm hug. She had an uncanny ability to just listen. Any issue, topic or concern she would always make you feel like she was in your corner and loved you no matter what you told her. She didn’t judge you or make you feel less than, ever. She aloud you to talk, to get it all out, and just vent. And if she knew you needed or were looking for advice, it was always exactly what I needed filtered with kindness and love. She made me a better woman by watching her and her modest ways. By seeing how everyday she put her family first. Her life was simple. She was a stay at home mom who pretty much had her home, her husband and her kids, and that is really all that she needed. This is a woman who never voted and never had a license or even drove a car. She was simple but in all the best ways, my Grandmother in the Yellow House. She worked endlessly to keep her home, seriously, spic-and-span. Even if you tried and went looking for it you wouldn’t find a single speck of dust. And her cooking… oh my fried chicken. A southern woman, with some serious southern recipes, she always filled your belly with goodies. But in all honestly, that was probably my least favorite quality of hers. She just loved me, all of me. My bad choices she just accepted, my good choices she praised, and even the choices she didn’t understand she grew to love. Her name suited her perfectly, she was the epidemy of grace because she was full of it.
As I sit here reflecting, I realize I have a part of these two very special women in me, each in certain ways. I have my feisty and fierce side that will ‘ride or die’ with anyone I love and cherish, and I will never cower from giving my opinion. Yet, I can be reserved, and just engage by simply taking it all in. I can ‘cut a bitch’ if you come close to hurting someone I love, but will sometimes just as easily let things breeze past me if it’s me in the hot seat. I am a sexual being and enjoy sex. I love, love. And I try to be welcoming to anyone I cross paths with, and I really do try to not judge another and the story or path they are on. I am equally a part of both of them.
As I continue to grow as a woman I hope to continue to be as my family was. I hope to share a bit of them with my own kids by them watching me. And I hope to get as close as I can to be the phenomenal women, they both were.
I just need to always give it some grace but never forget the fire.
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