My Grandma wants to say to you...

Today we celebrated my grandma's 77th Birthday. "Naw-nee" as a lot of you know her. What a woman, I tell you.

She has never been what most people typically think of when they think of a Grandma. I have never looked at her as society's definition of "elderly." Always active, so feisty, independent, outgoing, quick,  a dreamer, a DO-er, A fighter, in every sense of the word.

To date she has had heart surgery and brain surgery and came through stronger and feistier than ever! A  soldier without a uniform. A true hero. An angel in disguise. She has volunteered at the children's shelter and nursing home. I think of her always making friends where ever she goes, always bringing a smile to everyone's face around her. She has always been the type of person that could talk to ANYone, ANYwhere and they would instantly LOVE her.I've always loved and admired that about my Nawnee.

 She has always been the true example "We can't stop, we won't stop."

Always going, doing, so energetic, so independent....That is until a couple years ago.

Alzheimer's changes a lot of things. If you know anything about the disease, you know what I mean. It steals a lot of things from you. It has stolen a lot of things from her. It's an illness I don't quite understand, an illness I've grown to hate. I just hate what she has to go through with it. The fear, the confusion, the pain....I've always had a compassion for hurting people but it's tenfold when it's those closest to me.

But we live in a broken world don't we? Bad things happen, things we don't understand. And Alzheimer's is an evil disease. I don't know another word for it. It doesn't just hurt the person affected, it hurts all those close to them. Honestly, selfishly, it's been hard for me to take at first.To see her that way. To see what she has to go through. She isn't the Nawnee I've always had.

But it's often through the hardest circumstances that God shows us the greatest things. I've come to focus on the life of my grandma. What she has, not what she doesn't.

I'm appreciating her more and how often do we not realize what we have until it's gone.Thank God she's not gone. She might not be the same but she's still here. I still see glimpses of the Nawnee she has always been (I saw those today when we went to lunch) and I try to hold onto those.

What I want to do, what I think she would want us to do is to think about the full life she has already had. She is teaching me more than ever to appreciate my own life....and the people I have in it. To focus on the good things. This disease, as unbelievably heartbreaking and beyond challenging as it is, it is only a small piece in the grand scheme of things. And so are the trials we face. As big as this trial seems it is a small thing in the bigger picture of her life. A life so full of love. A life I know God smiles on the way she has lived it.

I have so many amazing memories with her.

Memories of road trips to Dallas to watch the Cowboys play. She had season tickets for as long as I can remember.
Memories of the stories she's told about the places she's been all over the world...including the holy land.
Memories of her cheering the Spurs on....and yelling at the Refs;)
Memories of trips to South Padre and staying at her condo.Walking on the beach and collecting seashells.
(One of her favorite things to do.)
Memories of her showing up to all my sports games growing up and cheering to her hearts content in high school being a "grandma" to all my friends.

29 years worth of amazing memories and I will continue to make however many more I'll be blessed to have with her. A lot of people don't get that. That much time with the people they love. The people that impact their lives. I'm grateful for that.  

My grandma has lived her life to the fullest in every sense of the word. I can't help but wonder how many souls she's touched along the way. How many people will come up to her one day when she's in heaven and give her a huge hug and tell her that because of her they are there.

 So what I think my grandma would want to say to you about your life is to LIVE it.

I think she'd take your hand in her wrinkled life lived hand and tell you that your Life is short, appreciate it. God is faithful, trust him. Time is precious, make the most of it. Don't waste another minute being bitter at someone, or scared about your circumstances. Because that thing you are spending so much time stressing over, won't matter in the end. Give it to God and walk in faith. ENJOY the life you're blessed with. Every second of it. Make memories, lots of them. Love the people in your life, fully, completely. Don't take anyone for granted.

I think she'd say that we don't know what tomorrow will bring but that your Life, the good and the bad, are in God's hands and he's got it all under control. He'll work it all out. Don't let the trials drag you down. Don't wait another day to LIVE your life. Stop just existing. God has bigger things for you, grab onto them without fear.

This disease may have stolen a lot of things from her but it can never steal the life she's lived and the impact she's made on so many people....the impact she''s made and continues to make on me. My Nawnee.