My Great Grandma Helen is celebrating her 111th birthday in Heaven today. I remember her as warm and loving, classy and put together. When she passed away at 95 years old, her beautiful, perfectly polished pearl necklace was handed down to me and it’s one of my dearest treasures. I wear it, intentionally on days that I want to honor her memory, by doing my very best at life.
Some of my favorite and earliest memories of Grandma Helen include family Christmas gatherings, and sitting and drinking orange juice at her kitchen table. Near the end of her life, I remember celebrating her 90th birthday with a grand party and visiting her frequently at the nursing home, where she rarely remembered our name because of Alzheimer’s Disease. We visited anyway, because it was the right thing to do. I was taught at an early age that it’s never wrong to do the right thing. Looking back, those visits with Grandma Helen are some of my most special memories. The visits ended up being as important for us kids, as they were for Grandma.
My Grandma’s head was adorned with a soft, beautiful crown of white hair and her heart was full of wisdom. In 1991, she wrote this beautiful poem and her birthday is the perfect day to share it with you…
Happiness
Happiness can't be defined,
It's a certain mood,
A state of mind.
It's sharing every day affairs
With one who understands and cares.
It's a tender look,
Or a gentle touch
That says "I love you very much."
It's a smile of welcome
When you're blue,
A dream that's shared-
A dream for two.
Yet, it's more than this.
It's a warm embrace,
And a magic kiss.
It's a special blessing from God above.
It's what you have when you're in love.
-Helen Bricker, 1991
“Happiness… it’s what you have when you’re in love.”
-Helen Bricker, 1991
“Happiness… it’s what you have when you’re in love.” There’s something simple, yet beautifully profound about that statement. I think back to 2006 on my honeymoon in Mexico with my handsome new husband… I looked him in the eyes and I promised him “We could live in a cardboard box, as long as we have each other.” It’s easy to choose happiness together in the early days. But on the hard days… that’s when we must remember what a blessing true love is, what a blessing family is.
May we always choose the blessings and may we always choose happiness.
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Yes its a beautiful thing when we can choose happiness in whatever life has given us! Definitely words of wisdom!