03/30/2026
Today we celebrate 80 years of the strongest, most beautiful soul I know, my grandmother. 🤍
We took pictures at a place that holds so much of her story… where she grew up and where her roots run deep. She is actually sitting on the hearth of the fireplace where she used to sit as a little girl. All that remains now is a single chimney, standing tall against time, just like her. Weathered, enduring, and still here. It felt symbolic in a way that I can’t quite put into words… because her life has been just like that, tested and shaken, but never broken.
From the very beginning in 1946, her life was anything but easy. Breech at birth, with her mother suffering a seizure that nearly took them both… a few years later, battling polio, infantile convulsions, double pneumonia, mumps, measles, several pandemics, breast cancer… more battles than most could even imagine. She has lived through things that would have stopped so many others. She truly has nine lives, and I believe every single one of them was given to her for a reason.
Because despite all of that, she chose love.
She chose strength.
She chose to keep going and I have been lucky enough to feel that love from day one.
She has always been there for me. She is steady, constant, and full of grace. That kind of presence you don’t question, because it’s just always been there. The kind of love that doesn’t need words, it just shows up, over and over again. And now, watching her with my babies… seeing her love them the way she has loved me, that’s something I will never take for granted. They get to experience the same warmth, the same safety, the same unconditional love. And that is one of the greatest gifts.
80 years of resilience.
80 years of love.
80 years of a life that has touched so many hearts.
We love you more than words could ever hold. Happy 80th birthday, Mamaw. You are our foundation, our history, and our heart. 🤍
*This old photo of her that she’s holding is from the 1960s! And the chair is a sentimental family heirloom that my papaw got for her in the 1970s/80s. And pictured with her also is her dog, Anna Lu. Her absolute best friend in the world!
