Thank you Sally for the great Eye Spy theme this week!
Like most Eye-Spy players this week, there are many people who inspire me - from family and friends to creative crafters and artists, to sports people and humanitarians.
The one person who always jumps first to mind when I am asked about inspirational people is my paternal Grandmother. For as long as I have known her, she has been strong, fiesty, witty, resilient, intelligent, creative, loving and kind. I think her laugh is the most wonderful laugh I have ever heard :-)
She is turning 94 in a few months and lives near San Jose in the USA. In the pic above, she is in her early-20s.
She was raised in rural Philippines. Her parents owned significant pieces of land and used it to help fund the education of their children. My Grandmother eventually studied education and became a teacher. She then transitioned to become a piano teacher, a business woman, a corner store owner ( I still remember visiting her during this time and having free reign on all the lollies in her shop!), and later on, a seamstress. She can speak many different dialects and has a beautiful singing voice.
When I was in Primary School, she lived with us for a year or two. During Primary School, we had those annual book parades, and everybody would come dressed up as a book character. Most years, I just came dressed as a character I made up and would endure lots of teasing :-) In 6th Grade, I really wanted to dress up like Mary Poppins.
My Grandmother took me to the market where we picked out fabric together, and she made me the coolest Mary Poppins dress ever (if I find a photo, I’ll post it up)! The dress was red gingham with a full skirt. She made me a fitted coat of dark blue velvet with long coat tails to wear on top of the dress. I wore a dark blue velvet hat, carried a big red umbrella, and a straw basket that she lined with red gingham too. And I won the parade that year! It really meant a lot to me that she took the time and energy to make the dress and that she was there to celebrate with me :-)
I am sure I inherited my love for sewing and making things from her. I was so stoked when my Aunty sent me my Grandmother’s sewing tools, and odds and ends last year. It was invaluable.
I have so many great memories of my Grandmother and I wish I had the luxury of living much closer to her. She is my last surviving grandparent. I would love for the girls to get to know her better too. She tells great stories and is the source of many hilarious one-liners (in fact, sometimes I think that somehow my youngest has inherited my Grandmother’s sharp wit)! Her determination, resilience, endurance and strength of character are an inspiration to me.
Most inspirational to me is that she volunteered weekly to help children with special needs at a local school until she was in her early nineties. They simply called her “Grandma“. When we visited a few years ago and went to the school to pick her up for the day, it really touched my heart to see the kids hugging her goodbye with such love and admiration. I can only hope that I will be that strong, and full of life and vitality in my nineties to spend my years serving and helping others.
Find more inspirational people at Cindy’s place :-)
~~~~
◘ Don’t forget that the September Sale is now at the One Red Robin Shoppe! 15% off softies and cushions and a 2-for-1 offer on all art prints (i.e. buy one and get one free!). Ends October 2nd!
◘ Thank you to those who have purchased from my shop. Unfortunately my laptop (which houses all my art print images) is being repaired at the moment so - assuming the repair goes well - I am hoping to send out your prints at the end of this week.
