I see grandma

My mom's mom, grandma Strawn had 12 children and lived a long life to the age of 92. What a blessed woman she was! She was in her right mind until her last days in the hospital and her physical health was pretty decent, considering her age.

Lucas and I had been married a couple of years and I interviewed and got offered an awesome job at a cardiac clinic in town. The pay was the most I had ever been offered and I would have been doing things that were above my education level at the time, but they were going to train me to do them.

I had finished a Certified Nursing Assistant Program which meant I had a lot of training in basic patient care. At this point, my grandma's health was declining and all her children were going to do whatever they could to keep her out of a nursing home. This meant they were going to have to hire someone to come to her house to care of her. For some reason, deep in my heart I felt that I was suppose to be the one to take care of her. I still remember the conversation with the man who was offering me this great job and I told him I wasn't going to take it. He was shocked and quite frankly, I was too.

Taking care of my 90+ year old grandma was anything but glamorous. It included meal preparation, giving her meds, cleaning her house, bathing her, grocery shopping, and taking her to run various errands around town. BUT it also meant precious time with my old grandma, to listen to stories, tell stories and spend lots of quality time that otherwise would have never happened.

The point of all this is that I see grandma a lot in Layla and it always brings a smile to my face. The way she spits in the sink after she brushes her teeth, the way she splashes water on her face, and the little bit of OCD that she was born with. Tonight, Layla stood up in the bath and put soap on her washcloth and started to clean herself. And there grandma was again. It feels like a déjà vu experience but always puts a smile on my face.

I am so grateful for the time I spent with grandma and I am also grateful that she is still around at times in the form of my daughter. I am even more grateful that this world is not my resting place and I have an eternity to spend her.

Grandma, we look forward to seeing you one day. Can't wait to introduce you to your great granddaughter.