My paternal grandmother was the sort of person who was an inspiration to anyone who knew her. She raised nine children, fostered over a dozen more once most of her own had gone out on their own, and as a single mother in her 40′s, entered the workforce and went on to have a successful career. She was the sort of person who could emerge from the most difficult situations with a positive attitude. She had a gift for the written word that she passed to her children and grandchildren. She was the sort of person who, after a power outage, would write the power company, not to complain, but to thank them for keeping the lights on the other 364 days that year.
As my father has been organizing and packing the house our family has lived in for the past two decades, he came across a file of my grandmother’s papers. Cards, letters, poems, stories, notes, and lists. In the last years of her life, Granny bought herself a computer and sat about writing a family history. She was gone before it was ever finished, but Dad recently put together her collection and emailed it to the family.
I may share some of her stories here in time, but for now I’d like to just share a few pearls of wisdom that she gathered over the years. They may, or may not, be her originals, but she thought enough to write these down.
From one of her “lists”:
Mentally Healthy People are Consistent in the Following:
1. They have a wide variety of sources of gratification.
2. They are flexible under stress.
3. They recognize and accept their limitations and their assets.
4. They treat other people as individuals.
5. They are active and productive.
A few other gems among her writings:
It’s a sign of true maturity when a person can enjoy their own company.
Give what you have, to some it may be more than you dare to hope.
When you give OF yourself, you add TO yourself.
Man’s mind, stretched by a new idea, can never return to it’s original dimension.
Character is what emerges from all the little things we didn’t have time for yesterday…but did anyway.
Especially love that last one. What a wise woman.
yes she was!
Those are so cool! Thank you for sharing them.
no problem! have a few more of hers I’ll probably share.
my wife has a 82 prelude. The clutch went,, I drove it home . The right revs .perfect.. Got the slave cylinder rebored. 100 dollars australian. She bought it 10 years ago for $100. I Bought a 1991 civic breeze. Now don,t laugh… She,s got a zotti power pipe. In the hills my friends v8 can,t catch me. Hugs the road better than any subaru. My go cart.
Im thinking this got posted in the wrong spot Greg, but I love a Honda too!
She was brilliant. Thank God you’ve got some of those genes, as well as your mother’s.
does the combination of the two make me crazy brilliant? he he he
Matt sent Steve a birthday card this year that said on the outside:
“I thought you were a crazy genius when we were young”
and on the inside:
“I was half right”
I love her list of healthy traits. She is absolutely on target. But I like this quote best: “Man’s mind, stretched by a new idea, can never return to it’s original dimension.” Which is why I wish everyone was afforded a post-high school education.
I wish that were possible!
“Give what you have, to some it may be more than you dare to hope.”
My grandmother always had room for one more at the supper table, and always had an extra dollar or two for anyone in need. Her philosophy was to “Live simply so that others may simply live.” – Gandhi It appears that our grandmothers would have gotten along well:)
BHE, I bet they would have! That quote was jotted down in my granny’s papers as well!
You’re grandmother sounds like a pretty neat lady.
she really was!
Thank you cards are almost the golden rule when it comes to business relations and friendship between the family and friends. Sometimes people do things that are beautiful and generous to others.
Tips to fall into a routine of the handwriting of Thanks. If you do not want to send letters to boil for a business partner. These tips on how successful people write thank you cards should be a great way to start.