Happy Mother’s Day Grammie
In honor of Mother’s Day I wanted to share a bit about my Grandmother, Helen, whose photo lives at the front of the studio. She was (and continues to be) one of the greatest influences on my life and who I credit as the one who inspired my love of being active and serving others.
I was fortunate to spend long stretches of time with her most summers. We’d drive from St. Louis, MO to Cedar Rapids, IA where she lived to spend weeks with her and my Grandpa. She would take me all over town with her and I cherished the simple pleasure of being able to step into her life when we were there. My grandparents played tennis and golf regularly and I loved playing ball girl at the tennis court and acting as a golf ball finder on the golf course. What a good example they set as I watched them prioritize these activities and time with friends. They would usually walk the golf course instead of taking a cart (a fantastic habit my dad shares to this day) and I would tag along with the important job of washing the balls along the way. As I got older, I got to enjoy these activities with them and learned how great it can be to wake up with the excitement of a fun day of being outside. (I can only imagine how much fun they’d have playing Pickleball these days!)
My Grammie was a fast walker and was sometimes hard to keep up with. I have inherited that habit from her and sometimes have to remind myself to slow down! We would often visit her friends - sometimes just dropping in to say hello or sometimes to help drive them to a doctor’s appointment. She was always dropping off a meal to someone in need or visiting someone in the hospital so we were often on the move and I seemed to understand the need to move with purpose when I was with her. However, she always knew where the parks were. If we were out running errands she’d find time to stop and let me run around the park or swing or play on the slides - something I wish I did a better job of with my own kids when they were younger. Movement was just an integral part of her lifestyle.
As she got older, she continued to be active. She played tennis into her 80s and golf until the age of 95. She went to the gym that was attached to the hospital near her home a few days a week. I remember her traveling to Denver to visit me one fall when she was almost 90 and coming home from work to find her raking my yard! Of course, my initial reaction was “Grammie what are you doing?!” While I didn’t want her to rake my yard, I should have taken a moment to appreciate that she was physically doing it just fine. She wasn’t saying “I’m too old” or “I shouldn’t” she was just doing it. In Iowa, her house was on a large flat lot and I remember her kind neighbor calling my dad one day to say that he was going to take over mowing her lawn for her. He had seen her out doing it herself, pushing the lawnmower with one hand and dragging a chair behind her with the other. She was 94 at the time. You see, she’d ressited our attempts to get someone to do it for her as she thought it was a waste of money as long as she could do it herself.
I tell these stories as a reflection of how powerful our mindset and beliefs can be when it comes to movement and our overall well-being. Her positive, “can-do” attitude served her well for her 100 years of life. She lived her life with kindness, compassion, and embraced the idea of “use it or lose it” when it came to exercise. Did her body feel great all the time - no. Did she deal with aches and pains - you bet. What set her apart was her willingness to focus on what she could do instead of what she couldn’t.
I’m so fortunate to have had such a powerful role model in my life and to share so much time with her. Her smile, her spirit, and her kindness continue to inspire me and are large parts of what brought the vision of CONNECT to life! Thank you Grammie.