Any Other Name

Today’s guest post is written by Linda.

What did you call your Mom? I called mine Ma sometimes, other times Mom. When I got home from school I’d yell out ‘Ma, I’m home.’ I think my siblings mostly called her that too. My Dad called her that as well most of the time, but if he was feeling playful or figured he was in trouble for something, he’d call her Mummy. Which made her blush sometimes so you knew what those two were up to or if she was mad at him for something she’d give him a look. Ah, those two were in love til the day they died. But I digress.

Eventually I had my own kids, five to be exact, and of course I spent a lot of time getting them to say mama and the like when they first started to talk. Now that they are adults, they have fallen into a few different camps. Nick and Andy call me Ma. Laura calls me ma, mummy, mama, madre, and other variations. Jenny calls me Momma and mostly Kate calls me Mom or Grandma.

Which brings me to the best part, grandma. I love being a mom, but being a grandma is by far the best. I have new little ones to love and I also get to see my kids as parents and words can’t even describe how great that is.

There are currently four little ones that I am grandma to. When I found out my son was having his first child, my first grand, besides being overjoyed at the idea I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the baby would call me. I mean, I wanted something special, unique that would be the way all future grandkids and the world would know me! I struggled for months with this and finally a wise friend said,”how about grandma? nobody’s a grandma anymore”. And there it is.

Brecken, 4 and Mabel, 3 call me grandma. Emerie, 2 calls me Ma and always with a twinkle in her eye for some reason and Eleanor is 10 months old and I look forward to hearing what she calls me.

Recently I went to a concert in the park to meet up with the kids and grands and as I struggled to carry my lawn chair and picnic basket over to them, Brecken saw me coming, and yelled out so everyone could hear, “grandma” and came running to me. It is a moment I will never forget. I’m tearing up just remembering it.

So no offense to all you Nana’s, G’s, Gee’s, Mimi’s and all other variations, just call me grandma.

Brecken and Em

Mabel and Eleanor

OWN IT

Today’s guest post is written by Linda.

I was never a “pretty girl”, but I did have pretty hair. I wore it long and straight most of my adult life and in the interest of full disclosure, I was rather vain about it. It started turning gray in my late 30’s and I immediately started coloring it and dyed it myself for 20 some years.

I am now 63 and 12 days ago I decided I’m done, I’m over it. No more coloring my hair. Who am I trying to kid with this hair? Who am I trying to impress? I’m old. I’m a grandma, which I love! I have wrinkles and sagging skin. I’m ready for my hair to catch up with the rest of me.

Linda Before

This has come as a great shock, not only to my family and friends, but to myself as well. I did not see it coming. I have made sure to let my kids know and they have been quite supportive. When I talked about the skunk stripe I would have to endure for a bit, my daughter Laura said, “Mom, just own it.” One of the many reasons why I love my kids so much, they are practical, realistic and honest, and for some reason, they support all my crazy ideas.

Anyway, of course I sought out Pinterest for the best way to go about growing out my hair to let the gray hairs take over. Who knew gray hair was a thing, a trend? Well, it is. Even young people are going gray according to Pinterest.

So armed with some pictures, some new hair products (apparently gray hair does some weird things requiring new product) and an appointment with my hairdresser, I am ready for this. I think. It’s starting with a shorter hair style which will be a big change in itself. Still not sure what she will recommend, low lights? A pixie cut? Maybe I’ll be wearing a hat for the next six months.

But I’m asking myself, what’s the big deal? Why do we color our hair? And more importantly, what is going on with me that I’m done with this? For the past six months I have been minimizing my life, my possessions, my activities, my foods. I have sold and given away a tremendous amount of stuff. I want my life to be simple so I can focus on my kids, grandkids, family and friends. I’ve been purging things but also letting go of things I thought were me, but were maybe the worlds version of me but at any rate no longer reflect who I am.

But there’s another aspect, since I have gone back to church and started reading and studying the Bible, life has begun to seem like it’s not that complicated, by paring down things to the basics and removing from my life negative influences and replacing them with positive ones, my perspective is changing. The purpose and goal of life is becoming clearer and I am starting to feel freer. Free of stuff and things and clutter and yearning and wanting things I will never have and don’t really want. And it’s all being replaced by seeing a clear direction in life, a purpose, a reason to do the right thing, because when you do, it saves you so much heartache in the end.

So what’s up with the hair? Putting the past behind me, I’m no longer that girl with pretty long brown hair. I’m older, wiser I hope, I want people to see who I’ve become and that’s it’s been hard to get here but it’s all been worth it to get to this point. To finally be following the One, be where I’ve always wanted to be, I just didn’t know it. It’s finally accepting it really is about who we are on the inside, not the outside and thanking God I have lived long enough to finally know this truth. I am who He created me to be, not who the world says I should be. People used to say a woman’s hair was her crowning glory, I want all the glory to go to Him.

I lost several inches of hair and went for the ‘low lights in slate’ to help with the blending.  I’m quite happy with the results so far.  I’ll send more pictures when I get further along in my journey.

Linda After