This isn't so much a soapbox topic, but here it is anyway.
For those of you who read this that aren't my family (none?...Tiff, you count. You're family), Grandmama is my maternal grandmother. She was an incredible, godly woman who really inspires me to this day. I'm always glad to see myself and my cousins emulating things that she did. Even though we didn't know her as adults or even teens, we still seem to live under her influence. I guess that goes without saying, she raised a parent for each of us, and they raised us based on all the good she raised them with.
(This is nice for post-mother's day.)
There are some strong similarities that I share with Grandmama. I love butterflies. Not in this huge way, but that was my choice if I saw them on clothing or jewelry. Not too long after I put two and two together, I noticed and later asked my cousin Leah about the same thing. Yup, she loves them too! (What's neat...and just ironic...is that Leah didn't know Grandmama very well. She was very young when she passed.)
Now I realize - liking butterflies is not an amazing thing. It's just neat, something I enjoy and appreciate.
The thing I see myself doing that's like Grandmama is "letter" writing. Okay, okay, I do NOT write letters. But one of the reasons I had to cold-turkey facebook was because I'd spend hours reading status updates and putting in encouraging comments. I would send messages to people who were having a tough time. I would chat with friends to see how they were. I'm an emailer now. And now that I'm working in so many offices in my "new" job, there's even more people that I frequently touch base with.
And I love it! I love to jot a quick email to see how someone is. I like to encourage others. If I could have picked one trait of Grandmama's, this would have been a good one to pick! I'm really glad I share it with her. I hope that in the future, I can continue to do this in a way that she did. She built up missionaries by sending them encouraging letters while they were serving in the field, sometimes feeling very alone. She would support them financially. (Someday...) She would pray for them. She was an amazing woman. I want to inherit that too!
I hope she wouldn't mind me modernizing her talent and gift. I admit, it would be tough for her to see it translate to electronic. Oh, she would be frustrated with computers and how many buttons are on my cell phone! But maybe she would be okay with it. She wouldn't change to it, that's for sure. Perhaps that's why she's not here anymore. But I think it's okay for me to update the encouraging letters to encouraging txts and emails. In this modern day, where things are faster, we have no choice but to update our approach. I hope I'm doing it okay!
