Grandma Jayne

I live in a wonderful world of women. Oh… and plus one amazing man.  My mother and my mother-in-law live just around the corner specifically because they want to be a part of my daughters lives. Luckily, they both are fun to be with.  I also have fantastic friends, sisters, aunts, cousins and acquaintances of all age groups and life experiences that I love to spend time with. On Mondays, I have decided to write a letter to my daughters.  I am gathering stories from the different women in my life including family, friends, authors and famous heroic women.  I want my girls to hear stories that have helped me and stories with wisdom.  Hopefully my blog friends will benefit as well.

Dear Daughters,

Today I have started something new.  Every Monday I am going to write you a letter hopefully with wisdom for your life. Today, I want to tell you to be brave.

There are going to be times in your lives that you are going to need to be brave.  Situations will come that you will not want to face, so you will need to find the courage to make it through.   It may mean you have to stand up and tell the truth or do something that is very difficult.  Who knows?

When Grandma Jayne was 46 years old, she had to be very brave.  Your grandpa, her husband of 24 year, died of a massive heart attack.  Grandma never had to work full time during the 24 years she was married.  She only had two years of college to list on her resume and had no meaningful skills that would help her find a job that could provide enough income to support her and me.  I was only 11.  Two weeks after Grandpa died, Grandma decided to go back to school.  It had been 25 years since she had been in school so she was quite nervous.  This was definitely a new challenge to add to her status of being a young widow.  Grandma had to be brave and get over the insecurity of going back to school.  She had little time to grieve the death of Grandpa.

Because Grandma was brave enough to enroll in school, she ended up getting a degree in business/accounting.  She was blessed with a job at a CPA firm.  Two years later, Grandma decided to be brave again and started her own business. I remember Grandma going to the bank to get the loan for her business.  I remember her being nervous the day she opened her gift shop.  Grandma successfully managed her business for 17 years and was featured in several magazines for her “unique Gifts and Decorator Accessories.” Grandma never “got rich” from her business, but she had enough money to support herself and me.  In fact she supported me through college, helped me buy my first car, paid for my wedding and completely paid off her home. 

I am so thankful Grandma was brave.  She could have curled up in a corner after my dad died and let fear and grief keep her from moving forward.  But instead, she lived out her life.  She knew her road wouldn’t be easy and she knew there would be obstacles but she did not give up. 

I hope the next time you are afraid to try something new, or you are fearful of doing the right thing, I pray you are brave and think of Grandma.

Here is my verse for you,

 The LORD is my light and my salvation
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life
of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1) 

I love you,

Mom