Happy Birthday Grandma!

This week, a wonderful woman will be celebrating her birthday! I promise to never reveal her age, but rest assured it is my grandma Dorsie.

My grandmother is a very strong and courageous woman. She is a mother to seven children, and even more grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Every holiday, when the family gets together, she is kicked out of the kitchen by my aunts and encouraged to rest. Usually she holds one of the babies or she starts running around her house looking for something that no one else can find but her. I don't think my grandmother knows what the meaning of rest is,

My grandmother has Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS is the when the immune system destroys the protective sheath that covers the nerves. The communication between the brain and the rest of the body is interrupted. This results in a non-reversible deterioration of the nerves.

For years, her and my grandfather believed that he would be taking care of her as they aged, well a stroke that paralyzed my grandfather's right side changed those plans. Now my grandmother takes care of him.

She is a remarkable woman who has persevered through many of life's challenges. She loves her family deeply, spends as many hours as she can crocheting blankets for family members and she has quite a green-thumb. Walking into her home is like walking into a garden.

My grandmother has passed her green thumb on to me. When I turned 19, my mother bought me a houseplant for my birthday. It lived and was eventually transplanted to another pot, where it grew. I was able to take some starts from it and place them in glass jars, just like my grandmother showed me. They eventually grew into larger plants. When Ryan and I moved in together, he complained that my plants took up more room than I did. He was right about that, and the first time we visited my grandmother and he saw all of her plants, he understood my love for them even more.

My grandmother has overcome many obstacles in her life and the entire time she has kept her head held high and loved her family.

Happy Birthday Grandma!