Today's Affirmation
"Today, I will recognize and appreciate those who have had a significant impact on who I have become."
Each of us, if we think carefully about it, will discover that there are, or were, very specific individuals who have had a significant impact on the person who we have become. These people have molded us, influenced us, mentored us, loved us. They have served as models for who we want to be. They have made us better people or inspired us to become better people.
There are four women that have played this role for me: my mother, my grandmother, my Vavo (grandmother in Portuguese), and my husband's mother whom I love as much as if she were my own mother.
My mother, Irene, passed away almost ten years ago, and I miss her every day. She was one of the strongest, bravest women I know. She endured a life fraught with illness, from clinical depression to an aneurism to a brain tumor to cancer. She taught me how to endure, how to survive and be brave. She taught me how to be creative and she instilled in me a love of books and reading. She is my mother, and what I have gained from her I carry in my heart and my soul.
My grandmother, Mary, was an immigrant from the "old country," from the Azores. She also endured hardship when she was a girl. She was the second oldest of seven children, and when her mother, my great-grandmother, Beatrice, came to America with the younger children, my grandmother was left behind with her father's brother and his wife (who was a terribly abusive woman) because there wasn't enough money for her passage.
She was a woman of incredible inner strength and a strong survival instinct. At eighteen, she finally came to America. She taught herself to read and write English, worked in a factory that made thread, lost a child, my mother's older brother, and cut her own grass until she was 73.
From her I experienced tolerance, unconditional love, and patience. She gave me a love of wildlife and gardening. She taught me independence and steadfastness. She taught me how to peel potatoes and how to sew by hand, how to crochet, how to embroider. She instilled in me a love of not only hard work, but beauty as well.
My Vavo, Isabelle, also was an immigrant from "das ilhas"-the islands of the Azores. For the entirety of her life, she spoke very little English, but understood everything. She loved watching Jeopardy and she was a politics enthusiast. She was a brilliant woman.
My Vavo always had a pot of soup on the stove and a cake on her counter. She always had a tablecloth on her table for every meal. She sewed without a pattern, and when I was a child, she would let me pull the pins out of the clothing after she had sewn the parts together. She made me, along with all of her other granddaughters more dresses and outfits than I can count. She canned countless mason jars of pears and eggs and onions and peppers. She made sausage by hand and grew
She taught me a love of creating-taking raw material, whether cloth or vegetable or meat and creating things that nurtured others.
My mother-in-law, Anne, is the final pillar in the building that has served as part of the foundation of my adult womanhood. She is granny. She is unconditionally loving and kind and patient and sweet. She is never critical, and when one of the grandchildren are acting up, her words are "be sweet." She is the ultimate nurturer. She never has an unkind word to say to anyone, and is the perfect example of selflessness.
Because of her, the rough edges of my character have been smoothed out. I have learned to leave sarcasm and criticism behind and become kinder, more patient and loving and selfless. I want to be like her, and I aspire to that end.
When I lost my own mother, she became my primary feminine role model. She is so giving to others and never asks for anything for herself. She raised 7 children, my husband being the third. She cared for and nurtured 14 grandchildren. When I reach my full maturity, I want to be like her.
So, my dear readers, open your eyes and recognize those who have made the most significant contributions to who you have become. Tell them how much they mean to you. Tell them, often, how much you love and appreciate their love and support.
Be well. Now and always.
In Love and Light-Always,
Robin
