Mimi

So today the kids are at school, and I have, from this point, about 3.5 hours to work on the conference paper. Ready, set, GO! After I blog . . .

I've been wanting to put up some February resolutions (a la Amstr), but things have been crazy busy, so I'll have to wait.

But today, I thought I'd share something else. This Saturday marks the day that would have been my maternal grandmother's 99th birthday. To celebrate, I'm giving you a link to an essay that my mother wrote about her. You may ask, "Why do I want to read an essay about your grandmother?"

Well, you might not. But let me tell you that she is one of the most amazing people I've ever known. She was a stoic, Southern woman who was a working single mother (of three girls) in the 1940s and 1950s. She makes Scarlett O'Hara look not only whiny and spoiled, but also utterly wimpy--even at the end of the movie/novel. Tara Schmara.

And also? This is a woman who, despite being a Southern Baptist, tried cigarettes for the first time after she retired--just in case smoking was something she shouldn't miss.

So to celebrate my grandmother, whom I called Mimi, I offer you this, which was written by my mother. Mimi, who would have been 99 this Saturday, died just a few years ago when she was 95. I am so grateful that she moved to California (with my mom) when she was 92, thus giving me a chance to spend more time with her than I ever had in my whole life, and thus allowing my children to know her. Happy Birthday, Mimi! I hope you've got an infinite supply of jelly beans in Heaven!