Family stories...

The things your going to read here for awhile are all true to the best of knowledge Things about my family's history. Things I've heard in upon years of stories I've been told by my parents, my Grandparents and even my Great-Grandparents. Everything within these "pages" has come from the mouths of some of the most wonderful people in my life. I take them at face value, if at times with a grain of salt.

My paternal Grandmother will be ninety years old in October. I imagine time has worn away some of the details in her mind and she has filled those in to the best of her ability. However, I have no doubt that the core of what she is telling me is 100% fact. For a woman of her age she is still sharp. Her body is beginning to falter at times, but she's still playing with a full deck of cards. May I be HALF that sharp if I live that long.

She has buried two husbands, three children, her parents, her brother and countless friends. One of her children died shortly after birth. (And there's a story there, one that gets me SO fired up! But I'll get to that in a later blog.) The other two, a set of twins, were born two months prematurely. They were born at home and died within minutes of their birth. (Another story here that gets me fired up.)

Those two events alone would render me a walking, barely functioning zombie, drugged up on every anti-depressant known to man. My Grandmother survived both and so many more trials and tragedies. Some so horrifying I can't even begin to imagine living through them. Stories that begin like hers don't always have a happy ending. But hers, for all it's bumps and bruises, has. And she's still smiling. She still finds joy in life. She still faces each day with optimism.

She is my hero...