Today marks 11 years since a light was altered. We thought it was estinguished. We cried and lamented the loss of this light. Purity, love, generiousity, true self-lessness. The light of life. My grandmother was a remarkable woman. Seventy-eight years of being a mother, grandmother, confident, friend, and guardian, she left the earth a better place than it was when she entered.
What was so remarkable about her being all of these things? What is so remarkable about any woman who chooses to leave a legacy in this world via a lineage? It’s an opportunity to teach others build a better world than the one you grew up in. It’s an opportunity to love and to learn that love has no boundaries and it is, indeed, possible to love even when you don’t think it’s likely. Love is independent of fear and sadness and love doesn’t look the same with every person.
That is not to say that if you do not have children, you cannot experience this, but that is not really the angle that I am going here with this entry, so stay with me. My grandmother is what I know to be the penultimate expression of love. My grandmother having experienced 16 lights of children and countless children’s children coming into her life, she had so many experiences to pull from by the time I came around that it was old news to her on how to raise me. I lived with her for the first nine years of my own life and can promise that I am a different person today for living with her. I learned about love, tolerance, acceptance, and eventually, being true to myself. She taught me that wisdom is the goal and love is is how we execute all things. It was through her own wisdom and love that I was shaped into the person I am today. She effected me and my mother in way that words cannot express, resulting in the strong women we are today.
How incredible it is to spend time with someone who has had this many rich experiences? Imagine getting to be raised by that person? Yeah, pretty lucky.
It wasn’t until this year that I had an understanding that her light was not extinguished. To extinguish a light means that no part of that light exists any longer. No, that’s not what happened. Her light was, instead, dispersed, widely, into every child and every grandchild, and every person born into this world that any of us ever comes across. How magnificent is it to see that love does not die and it does not have limits and it multiplies with every experience. My grandmother’s legacy is within all of us, and it is up to us to make the best of it.
This year, I have seen a shift in my family. I have seen more and more people in my family reach out and become part of our larger family village via social network tools like Facebook. I have seen more emails go back and forth with each other. We have even pulled off our first Family Reunion in decades. What a beautiful experience that was! To have everyone come together and experience each other, putting differences aside. I was very proud to be part of this experience.
Over the last decade, I have been able to witness a shattered family heal and support each other, and my hope is to see this bond grow even stronger in the coming years.
So, every year on April 1st, I don’t even remember the “other” “holiday” that happens on this day because for me, it is a day of love and expression. April 1st is Breakfast day. I have this day to honor my grandmother and her light and to carry on her love and wisdom. If you want to read about why I choose “Breakfast day” to remember her legacy by, you can read my entry from last year.
I encourage you all to participate with me and make or experience breakfast with as many people as you can today in honor of love and expression. Reach out to loved ones and reflect on how they have made you a better person and make it a goal to make their lives better to.
Have a beautiful day.
