March is Women’s History Month,? and because of this I would like to have you take some time out of your busy life to reflect on remembering some women in your life that have inspired, encouraged and cheered you on throughout your own lives. ?As I personally reflect back on my early childhood, career and my own life there are some women that I truly admired, loved and will always remember and hold close to my heart.
One of those women was my grandmother, my mother’s mother. My grandmother became like a mother figure to me at a very early age because my own mother was ?incapable of caring for me. From the tender age of 3, I went to live with my grandparents in Utah, and I was the apple of my grandma and my grandpa’s eye. Both my grandparents took good care of me, but my grandmother is the grandparent I will focus on for now.
My grandmother from a very early age encouraged me to read. She would read to me in the evenings and take me to the library to look around and to check out library books. I can remember always being surrounded by books and even if I was too young to know how to read I was excited to look at the pictures and point. My grandmother was an English teacher and when it came to proper speaking she was the one to correct you when you needed to be corrected. She was wonderful about how much she cared for me and wanted me to love learning as much as she did. By the time I went to kindergarten, I knew how to read and fell in love with reading all the time. My grandmother would take me to book clubs for children and we would read different books weekly. Afterward, we would laugh?and share a little about the books. By the time I started school, I loved to read and did so whenever I could. I still to this day love to read simply because of how my grandmother shared her love of reading with me.?I am so grateful that I love to read as an adult.
There are many things I admired about my grandmother, but one of them was her “I CAN” attitude that she showed on a daily basis. She came from the era of the deep depression and I believe that gave her unbelievable strength to persevere through anything and everything. I inherited that characteristic from her at a very early age as well and am so grateful for it because it has helped me in my own life time after time with life, business and dealing with the world. Quitting wasn’t an option for me with school, sports or anything else while I lived with my grandparents. It was modeled to work hard, love wholeheartedly and ?to stand strong for what you believed in. By the age of eight, I had been through so much as a young girl, but the way I was being raised helped me to be a strong child that stood tall. As I became older,?I carried these lessons with me through my teenage and young adult years and they have helped to shape me today in my career,?as a wife, and mother of three beautiful boys.
My grandmother died of cancer on February 14, 2005. Valentine’s Day was one of her favorite days and it doesn’t surprise me that she died on that day. During her last two weeks of her life, I went to help my aunt and uncle while they cared for her in her last days of her life. I was able to read to her, be there for her, and just sit with her because she was so sick. It was a very difficult time for me to see my strong grandmother barely able to stay alive and to barely ?breathe. The woman that had loved me and encouraged me throughout my life was slowly dying??and there wasn’t anything we could do. On her last day of her life I was laying next to her when she finally did take her last breath. It was hard to see and difficult to see her go, but she took that last breath with courage and strength which was how she lived her whole life.
I will always be grateful for the love and the many lessons that I learned from my grandmother, I was blessed to be the granddaughter of one very special lady that was loved by so many and is missed dearly.
Thank you grandma for all that you taught me…I love you and am happy to honor you this month.
Me at age 10…
My grandma, me and my little sister…
My grandma, grandpa, aunt & me at age 8…
OC Fitness Mama
Stacy Rae Mednick