Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Still not much to update on RFBF except that I hope they have implanted and are steadily growing. A week from now I go in for the blood test and dearly pray I am not "Proven Otherwise!"

Today is my Grandmother Gosnell's birthday. She would have been 96 years old, if she was still alive. I lost a big piece of my heart when she left this earth on July 29, 1999.

She is the center of some of my first memories, and I miss her so much. She is one of the main reasons I am a believer in Christ, as every letter (I MEAN EVERY LETTER) ended with her telling me how much she loved me and making sure I had Jesus in my heart. She had a hard life, and I think she did the best with it as she could.

I think I get a lot of my better qualities from my grandmother--my strong-will, my perseverance, my deep, dark wish to be a genteel Southern Belle...ha ha...I know my mother and my grandmother often fought over the way I was being raised because my mom, obviously had her ideas and my grandmother (another pea in our pod) had hers...and felt hers were RIGHT! As an adult, I can honestly analyze and say that sort of made me feel even extra special, that two of the most important people in my life argued over what was best for me...weird, in a way, but hey...that was me as a kid. In any event, I dare say with the exception of my mother, I don't think another person on this planet has ever loved me as my grandmother loved me, and I hope in things I say and do I make her proud.

She was a woman who was POOR AS DIRT, yet, when she died, we found paper after paper after paper from various organizations thanking her for her generous donations. The generous donation amounts? Usually ranged from $.25-$.50! Hilarious...even after she died, we found those requests (for which she was a MAGNET) all over the place, waiting to be mailed, with one or two little quarters taped to them!

She was a woman who loved flowers, and though I don't think she was a fabulous gardener, she, much like me, tried her best! I know my love of gardening and beautiful flowers is straight from her heart.

She also loved, loved, LOVED music--and not only did she pass that to my mom, but to me as well...Visits with Grandma always involved watching the Lawrence Welk Show and just enjoying beautiful music and imagery. As I said, she was POOR...but always wished to be a classy lady.

Let me tell you...she was.

My grandma holding me when I was just a month or so...maybe...

Happy Birthday, Grandma...I STILL miss you so much.