Happy Birthday Grandma Grape!

Yesterday we gathered with Jeff's extended family to celebrate his Grandma Packer's 90th birthday. It was a fun family event and a wonderful tribute to a very wonderful lady. I have known Grandma Packer for a little over fifteen years. I have never known anyone more full of love. Here are a couple of stories about this woman who is so dear to me.

When my son Adam was little, probably three years old, Jeff's mom and I were trying to explain to him the difference between grandparents and great-grandparents. Jeff's mom told him that Grandma Packer was his grandpa's mom, and his Grandma-Great. We thought he understood until he started calling her "Grandma Grape." In our family, she has been our Grandma Grape ever since.

One of my favorite memories of Grandma Grape happened a couple of years ago. Grandma and Jeff's mom and I were gathered around the bar in Jeff's mom's kitchen. We were chatting about family members, maybe about a cousin or someone who was struggling. Grandma's eyes teared up and her voice wavered as she told us how much she loves her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and what a source of joy they are to her. In that moment, I felt her love, as I have many times, and I felt just as strongly as ever how grateful I am to have married into the Packer family.

Grandma Packer is one of my heroes. When I am 90 years old, I hope that too will be a Grandma Packer like her, a matriarch of a family who knows what love is because she loves them so much.