91 Candles

Yesterday we celebrated…

After our usual day-to-day routine of school, lunch and therapy, we were off to celebrate my MomMom…Melva Baker.

Ninety-one years young {yes 91}, my grandmother is an amazing woman.  She lives on her own, drives a car, wears heels and jewelry and makeup and paints her nails, gets on the floor to play with Kayla and says things like “you go girl”!  

Having lived through the depression and hard times, she lives a very modest life…and while she says she doesn’t like all of the attention, she ate every last bit of it up…including some mid-day cake.

Being modest and practical {and ok, a little bit set in her ways}, she has had this rotary phone since as long as I can remember.  

And while it was kinda a part of her...a part of my memory of being at her house, it was time to update her.  With just one phone in her home and 91 year old ears, it was becoming more difficult for her to hear the phone...so we finally brought her into 1985 with cordless phones…and she’s a trip with them.  She now has three throughout her home and is beyond excited that she can hear the phone ring from any room…it’s the little things…

So yesterday we celebrated her life.  Yesterday we celebrated her being a MomMom to me…a GiGi to Kayla.  GiGi, by the way, standing for ‘Gorgeous Grandmother’…not Great Grandmother.  She jokingly says “how am I ever gonna get a man if you call me MomMom and tell everyone how old I am”? 

She’s a hoot…and she loves my girl.  At 91 she can get on and off of the ground easier than I can…anything for her Kayla.

She loves Kayla and well, Kayla loves her...just as much...right back.  "What a precious little angel"..."oh, my dear little angel"..."that precious little girl"...all loving expressions that my grandmother says over and over.  Kayla knows she's loved...and she's loved hard...by lots of people...people that never judge her...people that look past the Down syndrome and see and beautiful, sweet, intelligent little four year old.  My girl is so fortunate to have 3 of her 4 great-grandmothers still living…to enjoy…to love…to make memories with.  This is the stuff…this is the core of life, friends…family…the people that started it all…

So we celebrated…

We sang…

And blew out a candle {let's face it...91 candles might have been against fire code}...

We loved…

And we ate it all up…

Every last little bit of wonderfulness…thankful to share this special day with a special woman.  Hoping to soak up many more of her special days with her...and hoping you are all soaking up wonderful memories with your family…