"I can’t believe I won The Listserve! I hope each of you enjoy what I’m sharing below as much as I enjoy reading what the rest of you share each day. Feel free to connect online…I love meeting interesting and cool people…I’m @bradbatt almost everywhere.
My grandmother passed away two years ago at the age of 98. She had a big family — 7 children, 18 Grandchildren, 32 Great-grandchildren, and 15 Great Great-grandchildren — and was a huge influence on all of us. She had a great sense of humor, never stopped reading or learning, and possessed wisdom that truly only comes with having lived for almost ten decades.
Most of her extended family would gather at her house every year for Thanksgiving. I grew up thinking Thanksgivings of 50-60 people were commonplace. On Thanksgiving of 2009, at 91 years-old, she wrote the following “letter” and had it read to everyone before dinner.
I hope some of her wisdom affects your life in a positive way, as it has mine.
____________________
Old Age
(How I feel being so old…)
I have decided it’s a gift…
I am so blessed to have this wonderful family around me all these years. This may be a surprise to you all, but for the first time in my life, I’m the person I wanted to be – not my body…I can’t control the wrinkles and my wobbly legs or my bad-hair days. Oh well, my hair is almost gone, so I don’t have to worry about that. I would never trade my friends or my beautiful and loving family for more hair, a flatter belly, or fewer wrinkles.
I have become my own friend and I am happy! I know that I forget, but some things in life are just as well forgotten. Over the years, my heart has been broken when you lose a loved one, but broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion.
I’m blessed to have lived this long and still am able to laugh at my children, grandchildren, great AND great-great grandchildren.
I am not going to live forever, but while I’m still here I won’t waste my time on what could have been, or worry about what will be. But I hope the glue that has held this wonderful and loving family together all these years never comes apart.
May you always have a rainbow in your smile and love for each other in your hearts.
May God Bless you all……Mamoo
Brad Batt
Johnson City, TN
[email protected]