Happy Birthday Grandma Rosa Lee

Today is a day that I knew would make me sad. It would have been my Grandma Rosa Lee's 88th birthday. I knew that one day she would not be with us anymore, but I had hoped it would be longer than her 87th birthday. I hoped that she would get to hold all of my and my sister Tara's kids and tell us many more times that we needed to lose weight, cut our hair, or see a doctor about our teeth. She was such an honest person, but she knew how to be honest and caring at the same time. Many of us think we are doing the World a favor by being honest or "blunt", but she really had a way of being honest in a kind way.

Grandma Rosa died last year on November 14th. She did celebrate her 87th birthday with her family, but just a week later she went on to be the Angel she was always meant to be. I could go on for days about how great she was and how much she did for me and my family, but most people who will read this also know how great she was. She touched so many people's lives outside of her closest friends and family. She was a generous giver, caretaker, volunteer, and she had a sense of humor that stayed with her until her last breath. I credit my Grandma for so many of the wonderful things in my life. She was a person that I could talk to about certain problems and she would give very wise advice and I never felt like I was being judged. She was positive, Christian, and selfless.

Although I am sad that I can't call her and tell her Happy Birthday and ask her if she is going to go party (she would always say yes), I am so grateful that I had the chance to spend 27 years of my life with her and have her as my Grandma. Having a heartache and feeling so much pain when you lose someone might not seem like a gift, but to love someone so much that it hurts so bad is a gift. I miss her everyday, as I know many of us do, but I know she lives on through me, my sister, Dad, cousins, aunts, uncles, and now through my baby, Sallie Rose. I always knew that I could never tell her thank you enough or do anything that would ever amount to what she has done for me, but naming my daughter in honor of her is one way of trying. I just hope that I can be half the person she was and now I hope that Sallie Rose has inherited her Grandma Rosa Lee's heart and soul (she didn't get her red hair which I had hoped for too).

Grandma, Happy Birthday to you and keep us all in line as you watch over us and guide us to be better people to everyone in our lives. I want to make you proud and do wonderful things for other people without recognition, just as you did. I miss you, I love you, and I will never go a day without thanking God for you.

Pearl, Santa Claus, and Grandma Rosa Lee