Great Grandma Edna

Today, I'm feeling lots of emotions. Yesterday, we learned that Great Grandma Edna passed away. My mom said that her last words, repeated over and over, were Elaina Jane. We named Elaina after Grandma Edna's sister, Elaine. Jane is my Grandma Ami's middle name. Elaine was partially paralyzed due to Scarlett Fever and Polio. Yet, that never slowed her down. She led an incredibly adventurous life and was an amazing artist. My whole life, I've always heard stories about Elaine and Grandma Edna always had so much love and respect for her sister. I'm glad we were able to tell Grandma Edna about Elaina's name before she passed away. Looking at my baby girl this morning, I was thinking of all the potential in her little body. She has the potential to be an amazing woman, just like her Great, Great Grandma Edna and Great, Great, (Great?) Aunt Elaine (and the other women in our family!).

I've also been thinking a lot about the impact that Grandma Edna has had on our entire family. When I look at the admirable traits that were so strong in her, I see those traits passed down to my grandparents, my mom and my aunts and uncles. It's a very strong legacy. I don't even know what traits are the most valuable and how to limit what to write about right now. But, I for sure have been influenced by her childlike curiosity about the world, her attention to detail and her ability to see beauty in everything (One such example...she took a picture once of some flowers (weeds) growing through a crack in the cement...and she marveled at how something so beautiful can grow from something so hard and ugly). After she divorced my great grandpa, she traveled around the world as a cook on ships and a private yacht (mom, can you correct me if I'm wrong?). She made friends all over the world and was completely blind to race, class, or social standing. She truly loved hearing everyone's unique stories and loved learning from them. Everything and everyone was absolutely fascinating to my Grandma. How does one not lose that sense of fascination after almost 100 years on this earth?? I remember last time I saw her, she was telling us how she befriended some men she worked with. They were dirty and scraggly and no one else wanted to associate with them, but my grandma found them to be so fascinating. I think these are the guys who gave her the beautiful marijuana plant. About two years ago, she told Joel and I that she tried marijuana several times, but she found she didn't need it because she already saw the world in such vivid detail. I could write pages and pages about her.

So, today, I am doing a lot of reflecting on my Grandma and my entire family. I'm thankful for her influence and I'm thankful that she infused her outlook on life into the members of my family so that my kids can grow up knowing the same curiosity of the world, open mindedness, and acceptance of others. I have a LONG way to go to give my kids even a sliver of those values, but it's something I think about often and want to improve on.