a bunny and a grandma

i would like to go on record saying that my grandmother is the most amazing woman i have ever known.  i know a lot of pretty cool women, but she takes the cake and always has.  i had the privilege of hosting her and my father for a visit (i promise to write more about the rest of the trip soon), but today i want to highlight this particular part.  mostly, because my dad asked me to post these pics and i thought they were lost forever in my cell phone that fell apart in my hands on friday.  lucky for me, i had them stored in my camera and not my phone. 

gigi, as she is called by my girls, thought it was a hoot that we had a leash for our pet rabbits.  in fact, i think she thought it was a hoot that we had pet rabbits in the first place.  she wanted to be sure we captured her "walking the bunny" so she could show her gal pals and daughters. 

so here you have it:  gigi walking the bunny.  named lucy.  who we thought was a girl.  but have reason to suspect might be a boy.  oy!  (i'll keep you posted on that one.)

 and may i just highlight that gigi is going to be 92 in november.  have you ever seen such a sassy dresser?  i mean really, she has on boot cut jeans and is ever so stylish!  i just wanted to point that out because...  well, my gigi is pretty amazing.  but she's not just amazing for her outward stuff...  she shared with me some pretty cool tips on life.

one of the things that i will hold onto is her attitude about life.  our conversation began with me asking her what she believed was the greatest invention in her lifetime.  i wanted to know what changed her life the most and impacted her directly.  she answered it with, "well, the airplane was pretty amazing but it didn't change my life right away.  flying was so expensive and as a girl, i didn't fly until much later in life.  i think it was the television or the radio.  it was a family activity and maybe even a neighborhood activity.  you didn't watch or listen alone.  you would invite friends over and share a program together and it also helped you to be connected with what was going on in the world."  cool perspective. 

and then i asked her if it was difficult to see all the changes that she has seen in her lifetime.  i asked her if she felt like our world now was a scarier place now than at other times in her life.

her answer was pretty amazing.  she said, "tasha, the world has changed.  it gets bad and then it gets better.  it has highs and it has lows.  at one point you think this is the very worst and how could it possibly get better from here.  and then it gets better.  it's like a pendulum going back and forth between good times and bad.  i always find that it is best to just look forward.  there isn't any benefit to looking back.  sure, it's hard to adapt but life goes forward and if you refuse to move forward with it, it will leave you behind." 

i love that.  i think that as human beings we have a tendency to pine for the past.  we put on our rose colored glasses and trick ourselves into thinking that what we once had was better than what we have now.  i remember as a new mom i had days where i wondered why in the world we would have rocked our "no kids" boat.  we were foot loose and fancy free- not tied to naps or covered in spit up.  and yet, we didn't have our precious e.  sure, being a new mom is hard, but it is in fact better.  sometimes you have to climb out of the dirty nappies to see that (so to speak), but it's true. 

when we moved to california i thought similar thoughts.  i longed for chicago and my home in la grange.  i had moments where sadness took over and i tricked myself into thinking that if i could just go back i would be in glory land.  not true.  glory land is the here and now.  glory land is grabbing a snuggle with p or catching the twinkle in the eyes of d.  it is a quick kiss from my husband or reading with my dear e.  glory land is dinner with my p-town girls or glimpse up at this beautiful california sky.  it isn't absent of pain or frustration.  it isn't perfection but it is what is happening now.  it's showing up.  it's being attentive for the person that needs a smile or a hug.  it's being willing to listen.  it's sharing a meal or a coffee.  it's meeting at the park.  and instead of just "passing the time"  it is engaging with those that you are surrounded by.

i am so grateful for my grandmother.  i cherish her wisdom and am beyond thankful for each and every moment i get to spend with her.  she is wise...  beyond her years. 

(all things in quotes are paraphrases as i remember them.)