Grandmother Memories I am Lucky to have

Photo by Sergiu Vălenaș on Unsplash

I already look forward to being a grandma. I am in no hurry to get there, but to be a grandma means that life will slow a bit, that I will be able to have whole days to explore and make messes with grandkids, and maybe even help homeschool some of them. This is my hope, anyway.

All of my grandmothers were amazing women, each with their shining strengths. They were wise, loving, and also very human, in their own ways. But one thing they had in common was their love for the natural world.

Two of my great-grandmothers were very involved in our lives. One still lived on their family farm in Wabash. The other lived in the city of South Bend. We loved visiting them both. In such different spaces, the same things were topics of conversations: clouds, birds, flowers, squirrels, sounds of the seasons, the white crisp snow of winter, the humidity, and how they loved their little slice of heaven on earth. They were faith-filled women, trusting and strong. They both had lived through their share and more of abuse and trauma, words that never emerged from their mouths. They chose, wisely, to share only the joys with us, as grandchildren.

My maternal great-grandmother was a lover of the cardinal who was a constant companion in the back yard and the squirrel who came daily to the front. They were friends she would have conversations with…