#SOL14 - A Strong Woman

Grandma Cooper was a strong woman.

I like to think I inherited her emotional strength and determination. Sometimes I just tell myself it's true, when I need to feel a little bolder. I think about her often; not a week passes these days without her on my mind.

There are many days when The Husband and I are shopping that I stop suddenly and squeal, "Eeee! I love this! I must have it!"

He just smiles and nods, saying, "I bet your grandma had one just like it, right?"

And most of the time, he's right. I fill my house with things that remind me of her: bowls, paintings, furniture, and even shoes. I look out into my backyard and cringe, knowing she would shake her head at the state of the flowerbeds, cluck her tongue at the lack of a garden. I learned to knit because of her, and stopped knitting when she passed. It's a strange connection, but I'm not ready to pick my needles back up again.

She has a spot in everything I write -- a wisp of a character trait, a location, a saying. Writing her into my stories breathes life back into my aging memories of her. I wish I knew more, had more to write, but I have just the memories of a lifetime of shuffling about from state to state -- of hugs and tears each time we said goodbye -- of a brief little pocket of time when we lived in the same sunshine town on the coast of Florida. All good memories, filled with earth and food and cloth and warmth and smiles.

Grandma Cooper was a strong woman. I like to think I carry a little seed of that strength with me, just as I carry her heart in my heart.