This year at Thanksgiving we were given as assignment to discuss our grandparents. Specifically, what they meant to us. I really only knew one of my grandparents, my paternal grandmother. My mother's parents died before I was born and my paternal grandfather was 80 when I was born. He lived until he was 96, but there were only shadows of the man I got to know through stories.
My grandmother was an amazing woman. She went back to Columbia to get her masters degree in her 50's. She raised three children as a virtual single mother when that was unheard of. She was steadfast in her commitment to education and her church. She told me that a lady should never leave the house without lipstick (I violate that rule almost every day). Education and independence were so important to her, and I believe that I made her proud.
People shape you-- your grandparents, parents, siblings, friends, children, etc. Sometimes you forget how much, and it's nice sometimes to stop and think about it, and be thankful for the shape of me.
