Who do I admire?

In my lifetime I have been fortunate to meet many people that I look up to, but the woman I admire the most out of anyone is my grandmother.  She is a selfless woman always thinking of herself last and she is also my mentor. When I was five years old she put a paint brush in my hand for the first time.  

My grandmother teaches classes with Bob Ross’ company. Now most of you think of Bob Ross as this older man with an afro that likes painting “happy trees”. In fact, he was much more than that for my grandmother. 

My grandfather and her were married right before the Korean War.  Women during that day in age were required to take care of the house and kids.  My grandmother, on the other hand, was unable to have children.  In 1957, she adopted my father and for that I will forever be grateful; because of her I am alive today.   

As I mentioned before, my grandmother aka crazy Elly has a selfless and amazing heart of gold.  My dad’s sister, not blood related of course, got into trouble with the law, had two kids, a husband, and a load of bills. My grandmother knows the meaning of unconditional love though because even through all that she made sure that they were always taken care of. My aunt mind you never treated her mother that great; she even stooped to stealing for her at one point, but my grandmothers love never failed. Remembering back you might think that that is why we called her crazy Elly but that’s not the case at all.  We called her that because she was a barrel of laughs always ready for another adventure. Just a couple years ago she went to ride the camels in Egypt. 

All this back story was just to bring to light what my grandmother is like today.  She is a woman full of laughter and love which I admire. She spent this past year in Colorado taking care of my aunt who unfortunately had a rapid progression of ALS, but everyday, despite the past actions of my aunt, my grandmother took care of her day and night feeding and changing her like she did when she was just a baby. My aunt is with the angels now and my grandmother buried her daughter.  I look up to her because she is still going strong loving life and taking each adventure as it come without ever giving up.