Grateful 2.0 — knot so loud

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you find yourself healthy and good! Last year I had reflected on the tough year we had in 2020 and listed what I was thankful for. I had mentioned family, my husband, books, Instagram and time. Read more here. I thought long and hard about doing a part 2 this year because I liked how it forced me to sit down and think about the positivity. This year I am going to name ONE that I am thankful for.

Nana!

It’s her 90th birthday today, y’all. This special lady in my life! She deserves an entire blog post. I am so grateful to have her as my grandmother.

Where do I start?

Every time I see her, I feel her love. She always is so happy to see me. One thing that I love about her is that she loves to TALK! Just like me! I enjoy listening to her stories and she also can be funny!

My nana attended a sign language class with my parents when I was younger. They love to bring up the story when my Nana had tried to finger spell the letter ‘D’ … instead of the pointer finger, the bird went up! Although I have an even better story that was CAPTURED on our home video. You know those home videos back in the day? My dad liked to film moments with that huge boom box on his shoulder. So this one particular video was from Christmas 1995-ish when we had our traditional family Christmas Eve gathering at my uncle’s house. I had sat on “Santa’s” (Poppop) lap and was getting down. My nana helped me and then she told me to tell Santa ‘F%&K you’. What?! Yes, you read that correctly. Nana thought she was signing ‘thank you’ but she put her hands under the chin. All caught on the home video (which obviously gets replayed often!)!

Growing up, she came to my soccer games, play performances, grandparents days at school, awards ceremonies, graduation and more. She always made sure that I knew how proud she was.

*Grandparents Day in elementary school years.*

*Proud grandparents of a high school graduate (me!)*

Nana also shared a special milestone with me six years ago. I went dress shopping in my hometown for my wedding. It was Important to me to go dress shopping with loved ones. My mom and I had gone dress shopping at 3 shops so Nana came along for our last shopping trip. It was known at the last trip that I’d be saying ‘yes’ to the dress! I was wearing THE dress and the store made me ring a bell then I got a hug from Nana (and my mom)! I’m so grateful that I was able to share that special moment with my Nana.

When I was younger, Nana and Poppop went down South every year to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. My family made a lot of Spring Break trips there to visit them. It was always one of my favorite trips because I loved seeing my grandparents! I have so many fond memories of Myrtle Beach. One of my favorite Easters had been in Myrtle Beach, it was fun going to a different church. The church had been surrounded by palm trees and more stained glass windows… it was beautiful! We grew up Irish Catholic, so it was a big part of our lives! I went to church every Sunday in my hometown, I remember always looking for Nana and Poppop during the masses.

Living long distance for the last 14 years has been tough with not seeing my grandparents as often. Nana never let up on showing me her love, appreciation and pride. As I got older, I appreciate our time together even more. I enjoy hearing her stories. We share the same love for books, so we discuss what we are reading.

*One of my visits to NY - always love seeing my Nana!*

It also was so special when I got married, I went to Ireland for my honeymoon. My Nana and Poppop had gone to Ireland several times. We were able to compare our notes about where we went and what we saw. I enjoyed those conversations as we all love Ireland. We traveled back to Ireland one more time after our honeymoon, so I got some information from Nana about her family history. I was able to visit a town where her family lived and we stayed overnight in the county too. I visited places that I saw in their photos. It was a special trip to have them in my heart while visiting our ‘home country’.

I am so grateful for Nana, to make it to 90 years! I have 32 years of memories with her! I am so lucky. I couldn’t have asked for better grandparents than them. I see so much of myself in them with the love for books, pride for our Irish heritage, my talkative personality and more!

Nana… Happy birthday! Hope it is a wonderful day and I look forward to celebrating this special day with you! Slainte!