Thank You Granny

While talking to Granny yesterday, she told me that 63 years ago that day (June 13, 1943) she was baptized a member of the Church. We talked a lot about what great things have been brought about in this family from that decision she made all those years ago, and the great influence she has had in so many of our lives, especially mine. I then thanked her, because I feel that I owe so much of the happiness in my life to having the Gospel in it, and without Granny’s decision to become a member, things could have been very different. I am thankful that both of my Grandmothers were such strong women and recognized the truth in the Gospel and followed the promptings of the Spirit and their hearts and went forward.
   I love hearing her tell stories from her childhood, and then as she grew older, married and began having children. When she talks about being a young mother, handling different situations with each of her children, and as a wife, what it was like for her then, I often think about my own life, and being a wife and mother, and how some things are the same for me as they were for my Granny. It’s so funny to hear her talk about my Dad as a small boy and some of the trouble he got into, my Aunts and what they were like growing up as sisters, and how my Uncle was such an active baby and toddler. I find it fascinating to hear about each of her pregnancies, labor and delivery experiences, and how things were handled when you were having a baby, and how so much has changed in maternity care (for the better in my opinion). It puts so many things into a different light as I chase my own children about, and I think about how I will one day be telling my own grandchildren stories from my own life, and what it was like for me as a young mother, and what it was like in my ”day and age”.
   So often I have turned to Granny for advice and counsel, comfort and compassion, and I am so thankful for my realtionship with her, and that I am lucky enough to have her as an example in my life. I miss her terribly, and I hope that she can either visit, or come home for good, very soon.  I count myself blessed just being her granddaughter, having her in my life, and for showing me the joy each day in being a wife and mother!