Yesterday my nana turned 90. I called her up to wish her a happy birthday and asked how it felt to be 90. She chuckled and said, “The same way it felt to be 89 – old!”
Then we started talking about my book. (I promise there’s a real point to this, and I’m not just obnoxiously and randomly peppering in some blatant self-promotion.) :-)
Nana received her copy early this week (several days before I’d even gotten a hold of one) and read most of it that afternoon. Being my grandma, she had to tell me how much she enjoyed it, although she’d be the first one to admit she doesn’t get the whole body image thing. She grew up in a different age. She’s spent most of her life being nearly as body-unaware as a small child. How refreshing and what a blessing! (But the temperance and food thing, well, yeah she could relate. My papa, now deceased, was a major foodie and showed his love by feeding and feeding and feeding. In his company, it was easy to slip into gluttony because you were afraid if you’d refuse the food he served you, he’d feel like you were rejecting his love.)
Nor has Nana ever had issues with control. She’s one of those remarkable women of faith who truly can and does just put everything into God’s hands and trust. Well, I was telling her how God was using even this book, which partly deals with overcoming the need to be in control, to be perfect, or to fit into some sort of ideal, as a tool to teach me to find contentment in a messy, imperfect, and unpredictable life. Not to go into too many details, but somehow a few of the changes both my husband and I made during the proofing process slipped through the cracks. I told Nana that after we’d both perused a copy, there Dave and I were over-analyzing things when we both started to laugh at the irony of two perfectionists (my husband is a definite perfectionist at work, which is a very good thing if you’re one of his patients!) fretting over something that was supposed to help teach people to just let go!
Nana laughed, too, and then she said, “I do have one argument to take up with you about the book though.”
Uh-oh.
“I do not have any wrinkles!” she laughed. (I mention her many wrinkles in the aging chapter.)
“See, Nana, I knew I could write that about you, and you wouldn’t mind,” I said. “You’re the least vain person in the world, and you’re the opposite of a control freak. You really are one of the most beautiful women I know.”
More laughter. “Keep on saying that, honey.”
I do hope that if I’m blessed with 90 years of life I’ll be just like my nana – wrinkly, wise, beautiful, and completely trusting in God’s providence.
Isn’t she a beauty?
Kate, this is a beautiful post!
I, too, have a grandmother who is approaching her 90th birthday. I love her to pieces and try (try, try, try) to glean as much wisdom as I can whenever I get a chance to be around her. Women of that generation were so strong! It’s nice to know our differences and similarities…which I feel help me (us all) grow into the women God created us to be ;^)
Excited to read your book one of these days! It sounds lovely.
God bless.
This is a beautiful tribute to a beautiful lady, inside and out! That last picture is just priceless. (and I find it a very good practice to try and think about what people will say about me when I’m 90, or however old I get to be!)
those are really great pictures!