A dose of kindness

I recently decided to take a dose of my own advice. I took some time to tell someone that I care about just how much I love them. This last weekend was Grandparents Day. I just happened to be in WalMart and came accross a card that captured everything that my grandma is. I've been trying to get out to Dale more often lately to visit my Grandma Irene. It's actually hard to go. Not because it takes time or effort to get there, but because my grandma is 92 now and everytime I see her she looks worse. It hurts my heart to see her so weak and frail. She only resembles the woman I know in spirit. She has always been so strong and active. I hate to see her any other way. Regardless of whether or not it makes me sad I've been visiting more often. Since this weekend was grandparents day and I found a card to send her it seemed only appropriate that I take that as an opportunity to send her a heartfelt letter. It seems that every time someone passes away the thing I hear people say the most is, "I wish I had told him/her....." or "I wish I had let them know how much they meant to me." So I sat at my kitchen table and cried while I wrote grandma a letter. I told her everything I ever wanted her to know. I let her know that she is the perfect example of everything a woman, wife and mother should be. I told her how much I respect her and that she is my hero. I said I hope I make her proud and that I hope that I can be just like her. I let her know how much strength both physically and spiritually she has exampled for our family. She is really an amazing woman. So a few pages and a handful of kleenexes later I had a letter for grandma to include in her card. I think that grandma knows how much everyone loves her, but I don't think that she really gets to hear it that much. Even if she already knew I'm sure it was still nice to be told what a great lady she is. I feel relieved now too. For about the past 6 months everytime I see her, when I go to leave and give her a hug and kiss she sits me down, looks me in the eye and tells me that she loves me like it's the last time she will ever get to tell me. There is just something about the tone in her voice and the look in her eye that lets me know that she's making sure I know how much she loves me in case she doesn't get to tell me again. I know she's tired. She has said that she's tired and she's ready to go "home". On one hand it's great to know that grandma is ready and feels like she has lived the life she wanted to. On the other hand it is heartbreaking that may not be here much longer. She's probably the most amazing woman I've ever known. So I put my card in the mail and nervously waited to hear her response. She told mom that it was so nice to have someone tell her such nice things and that she'd been kinda blue and my note made her feel better. I'm just glad I took the chance to tell her how much I love her while I still can. Now, someday, hopefully a long long time from now when she goes to heaven I will know that she knew exactly how I felt about her. It's a great feeling. I can't think of a better way to honor my grandma then by letting her know just how much I love her. I'm always encouraging people to tell others how they feel about them and to let people know they are loved and spend time together, etc. I actually followed thru on my own advice and I couldn't feel any better about it. So today friends is a good day!