A Speech About My Grandmother

It was an early Christmas morning, I could smell the sugar cookie smell making its way through my house. I could only think of one person that could make this happen, my Abuelita. “Grandma” I shout from my room as she was in the kitchen. I wanted cookies so bad before opening our presents. But we wait for my dad to come from his house before opening presents.

My great-grandmother was raised by her mom, dad, and other relatives. She, and many cousins, were raised up as brother and sister in a close-knit family. Harriett Marshall, my great-grandmother, was born in Saltillo, Tennessee on January 7, 1931. She has lived through many trying times. It is a blessing to live through so many events that changed the nation, even the world. She has lived through the following events and many more: The Great Depression, World War II, the historic signing of Jackie Robinson, Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights movement and many more.

When I look back at my childhood I cannot picture it without you. You have helped shaped who I am today and for that I thank you. When I think of you i think about all the love that you have to give. I am so lucky to have you in my life and I will always cherish the memories that I have with you.

My grandmother resided with one of my aunts for the last 15 years of her life. As her health started to fail her, she became more and more dependent. My grandmother was always a very independent woman and the rock of our

Let me tell you a little about myself, growing up in a larger than normal family has its setbacks and struggles; but non-the-less special. Also growing up and helping take care of your great grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s, takes a special family. I never though of myself pursuing a career in the medical field, ever. I actually despised the idea; I wanted to become a CSI, I wanted more science, but something happened. When my great grandmother came to live with us after the Alzheimer’s had spread, I was there to help her, when my parents working. I helped feed, bath, cloth, distributed medication, use the restroom, I even cut her hair and painted her nails the colored she loved, dark red/maroon. It was in those years, before she died, that I saw myself helping other just like this. I love to say that my great grandmother inspired me to become a nurse. She inspired me to become who I am now.

When I was younger, I grew up with four grandparents who I could spend time with. As I started to grow older, my grandparents started to deteriorate. My grandmother developed Alzheimer’s, and more specifically dementia. I remember one day at my beach house when I was talking to her, she asked me who I was because she couldn’t remember. She didn’t remember her own grandson. She started to lose all her memory and she had difficulty hearing and speaking. It got to a point where there was no way of communicating with her, and we wondered if she even knew who her own family was. She went through this deterioration for upwards of 5 years, and I it got to a point where I forgot what she was like before she developed the mental disease. I would watch

My family are like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions, at different paces but our roots will always run deep. Family will always come first to me, above all else; coming from a home with no father, the only father figure i had was my grandfather, to me family is so important because it is who we come from. Family

The simple bowl is deep cherry wood with a silver rimmed bottom that reflects my face upside down as a result of the polishing it has received over the years. The grain is worn, but still radiates the strength of the tree that it came from. As I run my finger over the inside of the cavernous salad bowl, it picks up some of the olive oil residue from the homemade Italian dressing that has seeped into every little grain of the bowl over years of use. Never subject to washings; we only wiped it out with a paper towel, to better flavor the crisp Boston bibb lettuce salads that it delivered at every family dinner. Just as the wood bowl, my grandmother was weathered and cracked by the trials of life. I could not be around her without leaving

Thank you for your kind words regarding my grandmother; she and I were extremely close, and my brother and I spent hours with her. Sadly, she passed away a couple years ago after being sick for a while. A death like hers is so bittersweet. I watched her let go of life, but with it she let go of all the pain of her illness, and that made the loss a little easier. I inherited the ring my grandfather gave her when they were both young and my grandpa had just returned from the Korean War. They got married soon after this and I think about how young they were and wonder how they were able to remain happy for so many years. I wear the ring a lot because it’s like I own a little piece of her. After her children and grandchildren, that ring was probably the thing she loved most in this world, and I’m so thankful I get to carry it.

“Take me with you to America, dad!” I said. Tears escape my grandmother’s eyes. “I am tired of living the gypsy life!” Sobs thunder out of her, spill over the banks.

I grew up in a small village in Mexico where there were no health care professionals. My grandmother was one of the women in the village who would take care of the sick. The knowledge and wisdom she gained over the years was passed on to my mother. One day, I remember my mother asking me to accompany her. It was late at night, all of the dogs would bark at us as we walked by, and I did not know where we were going. We came to the house of a sick child. It was then, I realized that my mother had been asked to come and give the child medicine. The privilege of getting to help the child get well again gave me a sense of accomplishment. What we had done there guided me to strive for something that would give me that same sense of accomplishment. In 1996, my family and I got the opportunity to move to the United States. As a little girl, I did not understand how such a sad and difficult goodbye would bring me to a better future. A place that has brought me closer, than I had ever thought, to accomplishing my dream of becoming a pharmacist. I am grateful for of all of the opportunities that living and studying in the United States has brought.

It all began when I was about five years old, having sleepovers in my great grandma’s room. She loved telling stories and playing dress up with me. In her room she kept a lot of pillows on her bed. She had fancy pillows in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and textures. Every time I entered her room, she would allow me to jump around on the bed filled with pillows. All that jumping around and having all that fun felt amazing, and that's when I fell in love with one of her pillows and named it Bobby.

As we are driving to my grandmother's house in the early morning, my family gets excited about the upcoming family festivities, and memories to be relived. Family members and friends are so excited to see each other and those family members we haven't seen in years. As we pass all the decorations on the houses, mom steps on the gas to make us go a little quicker, so we can see my grandma faster.

I will tell you a tale of a woman of great success. This is a woman that has inspired me to be something great one day and to never give up trying. Though she may be growing into her elderly years she has lived a very challenging, joyful, loving and successful life. She is a woman of great faith and character, she is my grandmother.

At just over five feet tall, she was the kind of woman that you saw on the street and knew to move out of her way. Her demeanor was strict, her hands tied with thick blue veins, criss­crossing over her thin, frail fingers.