My own mother as a Grandma to all...

I learned a lot of being a grandma to my own grandkids from my mom. When mom was 19 she married and had her family started at age 20, When I was born 7 1/2 yrs later...she was 27 and finished having her family of 6 kids. I still am in complete and udder admiration of this woman's ability to raise a family of 6 (4 sons and 2 daughters) so calmly as my mom did.
Mom became a grandma at the early age of 42. Her first grandchild was a boy and I produced the first granddaughter when she was 46. She nurtured my 4 girls along with my siblings' kids too. We all had our kids one right after the other for nearly 36 years! We kept "grandma" so very busy with the weekend question..."Mom-could you babysit for me this weekend?".
I had my own girls at a very young age myself. At some very significant times she would she would remind me that she hardly ever went out on weekends and left us behind with sitters. Regardless, Mom would do her part in babysitting all 14 grandchildren. Later on in her life she was blessed with 3 more step-grandchildren,whom she accepted lovingly. But as the last of the grandchildren are now in their pre-teens.....I see a relaxed version of a woman who only wants to be a part of their lives through visits.
I think it is important to give her the utmost respect for taking care of a large family all those years while my dad worked 2 jobs. She was never alone and had at least 4 teens in the house for 10 years it seemed. Her life was very full and she supported each and every child and then each grandchild's endeavors in school projects and sporting events as much as her time allowed.
My mom became a widow 13 years ago and is living alone in a large 12 room home. She traveled frequently after my dad passed away getting to see much of the country at her own "pace" and just filling an empty void she had from missing my dad.
I admire mom for giving me the freedom to be my own kind of mom to my children. She was a good mentor to me in my young mothering years. She was the quiet nurturer and taught me my lullaby songs to sing to my girls and how to rock them when they were tearful. She taught me to have fair judgement in the daily comprimises a family encounters. She was my backbone in wanting to have a family early in my life. I thought to myself, "if she can do it..I can do it also! It can't be that hard!" Well, I found out....she was the one who made it all look so very simple. She portrayed motherhood with the gentlest of personalities. She never complained a wink of being confined and she never let on that she was asked to do too many tasks for too many people.
Mom is powerful in the" calming" of all of our nerves by the mere "tickling" of our arms or backs with her long, elegant fingernails, as we still sit beside her during family gatherings.
Mom is famous for good meals over the years to all of my siblings, at our gatherings and most favored for making those hot chocolate chip cookies. I think she made them on a weekly basis for 15 years in a row!!
She lives a simple, quiet lifestyle, content to watch her television re-runs day in and day out. Sewing a little now and then, and reading a good fiction novel almost one per day. She stays active in her church circle and has played a good bridge hand for 60 years with some of the same ladies.
Mom loves to have a family member drop in when they seek a visit with her and need a good listener to their stories. She just simply sits and smiles at them, watching their emotions come forward and share with her. We see that reminiscent look of "Oh...how well I remember it all."
This woman to me is a gentle legend in my mind. To have mothered and grandmothered so many over the years and still keep her eloquent style of living as she does is indeed a tribute to her ever quiet demeanor and self worth. I feel privileged to be a daughter to such a lady. I find myself compelled to embellish that my siblings and our families' closeknit bonds have survived due to her steadfast strength in instilling what we have needed for all of our lives. And she has done that with her quiet, gentle unselfish personality. To know my mom is to love a quiet,stoic matriarch.