A Lesson from Grandmom

Over the last few weeks I have been spending time with my family in my childhood home. It’s been a great time seeing these people whom I have seen seldom since 2018. Living in Maine and the Czech Republic followed by the stretch of Covid has kept me from seeing my family as much as I would like. We decided that this natural transition time was perfect to spend with my family. It’s been a pleasure to wake up, eat breakfast with my family, have coffee and talk, work on projects, and take part in their day to day events.


What I have been enjoying doing quite a bit is waking up early (as I always do) and sitting down with an old family photo album. Memories of family still with us and memories of those past bring me joy. The memories and lessons are two in the same. I feel as if I have meaningful lessons from everyone in my family. Lessons of reverence from some and others of questionable ethics from others… It’s a big family.


One person in particular stuck out to me and got me thinking about life lessons. That person was my paternal grandmother- Grandmom.

Grandmom was a loving, honest, and pragmatic woman. Her love and excitement for her grandchildren was never ending. She always gave her support but advised fairly with details of what might need further thought. We joke of her pragmatic, sensible, and “thrifty” behaviors such as making tomato soup from ketchup packets, but we all know she was committed to her beliefs far beyond what we could ever imagine.


Grandmom passed away about a week after I moved to Prague. I was not able to attend her funeral, hear and share stories, or reflect on her life with family, but I sure was able to do that myself. I’m happy that I have all of those stories in my head and I could reminisce even if I wasn’t with everyone else. I have so many memories of lessons learned from Grandmom. Some when I was a child, others as a teenager, and many from around the time I was getting married. She had a great way of teaching no matter the age of her audience.


I could go on for days about all of these lessons, but this is a health and wellness blog so I will speak only to those at this time.


As a young child some of my earliest memories were walking around my grandparents’ Olivet property with Grandmom. We would prune trees, do away with invasive species, and walk over to the neighbors yard to feed the horse. To me, this place felt huge- like an orchard! Days were filled with these chores, other busy work, a dinner of frozen veggies and over cooked chicken, a family walk afterward, Scrabble after dark, and a book before bed.


Once a summer we all met as a family in Northern Michigan where everyone, including Grandmom, would spend their days traipsing through the woods, climbing sand dunes, swimming in the lake, canoeing, and maintaining the many duties of an aging cottage. Just like in Olivet, every evening consisted of a healthy meal, a family walk, a stimulating game of Scrabble, and a good book before bed.

As teenagers and adults we all came to know Gradmom’s routine as predictable. Like i said before, she was committed to her beliefs. I remember one time she read that you must chew your food exactly 22-times before swallowing. I guarantee you she did that until the day she died. She believed in getting daily vitamin D, so every day, despite the cold, she would go outside and make sure some of her skin saw the sun. Her most predictable, admirable, and important habit (which has now become a lesson) was to take a walk every day. Just like we did after supper everyday as a family, she insisted on taking a walk everyday for her health.


As a kid we often struggled to keep up with her pace. She was long legged and well conditioned. Everyday, if she could not swim, she was walking. I’ll bet she even walked on days that she did swim. She set this routine early in life and carried it through until the end.


Grandmom was in great shape because of this. I don’t remember her ever opting out of physical activity with us kids. She was always hanging in there with us. Because she was in such great shape she swam in the cold lake into her eighties, dove for golf balls, and did more than most people half her age.


Her physical shape was often put on display in family ping pong matches where she would fairly and calmly level us. We liked to say she had one up on us because she spent her summers stuck in the family basement in Kansas playing ping pong during tornado season. Embarrassingly, I think I have to me admit that I think she beat me left handed.


As Grandmom got older, she slowed down a bit, ping pong stopped, Scrabble continued, walks were taken indoors. Overall, Grandmom aged slowly and gracefully. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was still shuffling around now if it weren’t for a fall that broke her femur. When she broke her femur, it slowed her down. Her balance and confidence were never quite the same. She diligently did her exercises to improve balance and leg strength, but she lost some of her zip.


I can confidently say that Grandmom must have hit the ground hard when she broke her femur. In any person, that is a big bone, but Grandmom was inadvertently a health nut by today’s standards. She loaded her bones through daily walking. She ate nutritious meals with lots of vegetable (even if they were frozen). She valued sleep. Her bones, while they did break, must have required a tremendous amount of force. I remember as a kid, probably around the time when my older sister was about 12 years old, Grandmom lecturing my sister on why she MUST eat leafy greens because she read in the newspaper that young women have a great propensity for building bone density in their teens. Grandmom knew what she was doing.


Grandmom is a great example of consistency. She had her beliefs and she stuck with them. If we all did that we would all succeed in reaching our goals. I do wonder, how did she stay so consistent over all of the years? Well, I think there are a few things we should all recognize and appreciate. First, she was a woman of faith and her ability to have faith reached far outside of the church. She had faith in science. If the research said to chew your food 22 times- she did it because she trusted that it was correct. Second, Grandmom lived a life separate from fad diets and yo-yo-ing of attention grabbers. She grew up in the depression. She had no room in her life for luxuries such as arguing about food and how to eat it. Just eat real food. Lastly, I like to think that Grandmom just enjoyed living healthy. She felt good. She could keep up with her grandkids on the sand dunes. She got to spend everyday with her best friends. Gradnmom recognized and appreciated good things like warm sun on the skin in February, waking up with energy, being able to hike miles to see a Glacier in Sweden. I don’t think she had any great tips for staying consistent with a healthy life- it just came natural to her and she recognized the benefits it gave her, so why stop?


Grandmom eventually passed away at the age of 90. She had 90 active and healthy years. If it weren’t for the broken leg she probably would have lived longer. Regardless, her lessons sing to me everyday. I think her lessons sing for everyone she knew. She brought cheer to so many people daily. I’d imagine it would be hard to find someone who didn’t have a lesson learned from Grandmom. To me, she was a loving grandmother and a voice of reason. When it comes to health, she stands as a memory to of the simplicity of maintaining our body. It doesn’t need to be fancy, just go walk, get some sun, eat healthy foods, and sleep.


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Post writing this article. We were told of the news of the passing of Grandma’s younger brother- George. He was a life long athlete who ran and cycled often. Like Grandmom, he was an academic and educator. He spent his time teaching at the home, university, and prisons. Good genes and habits run strong in that family. I find comfort knowing that I may have inherited some of that.


I hope that lessons from Grandmom and George can touch people far beyond their family. I hope that we all can relay these messages to younger people in our lives. Whether we speak them or lead by example, I believe it is exceptionally necessary now more than ever that we let these values be forward in our lives.