Before I ever knew who Martha Stewart was, I loved my grandma-Esther. She was a woman that I always admired and constantly found myself trying to measure up to. She sewed and cooked and created and knit and cleaned and entertained and baked and hosted and prayed and LOVED. And she was loved by so many.
She married "later in life" at the ripe age of 29. She raised four wonderful children who grew into amazing, life changing human beings. She made her home a place of love and warmth. She spent summers teaching me to sew and create. I never thought that I was creative enough until I heard her words of encouragement.
Then I got married. And it turns out that having a wedding does not suddenly make you an accomplished homemaking wife. I was devastated that my meals left my husband unsatisfied. Trying to darn even the smallest of mitten holes was frustrating. And my knitting projects never elevated to much more than scarves. I spent an evening at my grandmother's table crying, "Grandma, why can't I be a wife like you? How in the world have you become so good at everything and why didn't I inherit it?" She and my grandfather laughed. "When I married your grandma, she couldn't cook a bean!" Then I learned how hard she worked over the years to be the woman she had become. It wasn't by accident or chance that she was so wonderful; it was from loving her family and working hard.
Today she went to heaven, where she will spent an eternity with the God who so lovingly created her. But today I am sad for my loss. And for those who lost their wife, mother, and friend.
My heart and life will not be the same.
I found this picture today. It beautifully captures who she was. She had a way of making us feel special (I am positive my grandpa was never allowed to have crackers in bed) and we couldn't help but fall in love with her. I hope that one day I will be as good a wife, mother, and friend as she was.
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