March 7th

Today I write my Slice of Life in honor of two very special women who were each born on March 7th.  

My paternal grandmother, Neva Almeda Shaw, born March 7th 1919.

She was a pistol, my grandmother.  She was proud and she was sassy.  She was a spitfire.  She stood not even 5 feet tall, but she wasn't about to take any mess from anyone.  She was an excellent cook---oh, her chocolate pies--be still my heart--and she loved us mightily. 

"Though she be but little, she is fierce"

-Shakespeare from A Midsummer Night's Dream

And her mother-in-law, my great-grandmother Nettie Ethel Mae McCrary, born March 7, 1898.

Grandma Watwood was so sweet and so gentle and so good.  Despite a hard life she was filled with joy.  That smile in the photo?  I don't remember ever seeing her without it.  Her children (all 9 of them), her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren (of which I am one) treasured her.  Let it be known that to date, I have never had sweet tea that was nearly as good as hers.  

"Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength."

-St. Francis de Sales

I wouldn't be here without these women.  I exist because they existed before me.  I am a strong woman in part because I come from a long line of strong women on both my maternal and paternal lines, and I am grateful for the gifts and lessons they each passed on to me.  

Although they had very different temperments, they were each strong in their own way.  

They got up every morning and lived---in a time when life could be exceptionally hard.  

They each experienced in their lifetimes multiple wars and the heartbreak of losing loved ones (even children) and the daily grind of keeping things running for their families in a time without today's conveniences.