91 Years Old
Happy 91st Birthday, Nanny! Tuesday was my Grandmother’s 91st Birthday.
She’s lived a long and blessed life. Not without it’s trials, like living through the depression when her father lost the farm and losing her mother at the age of 13. She’s also had her many blessings. A wonderful husband, one son, 21 grandchildren & 6 great grandchildren with 1 more on the way.
She’s been bedridden for 2 years and 3 months. In the past 2 years and 3 months, she’s been close to death, very well, hallucinating, very lucid, watched my Grandfather die and said good-bye to him. She’s seen her world change dramatically and now requires 24-hour a day care.
She wonders why God has seen fit to allow this to happen to her. I tell her that He has his purposes for her good and His glory and that in this difficult season in which she finds herself, God is still bestowing many blessings upon her.
For instance, she’s been in bed for 2 years and 3 months and she has not had one bedsore. This amazes her caregivers and nurses. After just a few days in bed, my grandfather had 2 bedsores.
Another huge blessing is that she is able to stay in her own home with her family to care for her. To our country’s shame, so many of our elderly are forgotten in convalescent hospitals or homes. We are blessed to be able to care for her in her old age.
As her first grandchild, I can remember Nanny at a much younger age than my brothers and sisters. She grew up in a German Lutheran community and home. She spoke German as a child but has long forgotten it. She took me to church for many years when I was a young child for which I will always be thankful.
Nanny always liked to dress nice. I can remember getting into her closet as a little girl and walking around the house in all of her high heels – and she had a LOT! Nanny always had red hair. Not real red hair – it was red hair from a bottle, but red hair none-the-less. She also has beautiful fingernails – that are real. Real thick, real long, real natural, really beautiful. ALL of us girls have to work hard to not be envious of her long, beautiful fingernails – as none of us inherited this trait from her. She used to paint our nails when we were little. Now we paint hers.
She became a beautician in her mid-life years, which seems appropriate for her tastes. I can remember Nanny cutting my hair, giving me permanents and giving me manicures as a younger girl. She took sewing lessons and made me some beautiful clothing in my teen years.
Nanny loved to dance, which is how she and Pappap met. After their retirement, they enjoyed the Senior Citizen Dances where they made many friends.
I will always remember her pumpkin pies and coffee cakes that she brought to every family get-together. We’d sit down to this huge feast that my Mom had prepared, we’d all be stuffed, and before we could finish dinner, Nanny would be asking who wanted pie, whipped cream or not? We were all so full, but we couldn’t turn her down. She did make a great pumpkin pie!
Callan was her live-in caregiver on her 91st Birthday. This worked out well as Callan is our cake decorator. She took her cake decorating equipment to California with her and made Nanny a Spice-Raisin-Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting for her birthday. She decorated it with roses. She has a picture of it on her phone, but since we don’t have the plan where we can send photos to one another, that picture will have to wait until she gets home. So, once again, just envision a Spice-Raisin-Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting and roses on it : )
The rest of my family who lives in So.Cal. showed up at 4 p.m. with pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken, gifts and hugs to celebrate her 91st Birthday. I think she was pleased to have everyone show up to honor her.
Leviticus 19:32
‘You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man,
and fear your God: I am the LORD.
Nanny, we rise up to honor you on your 91st Birthday! In so doing, we fear God, Who is the Lord! Happy 91st Birthday.
