My Grandma

My grandma was the most powerful woman I knew. She taught me that family is the most important thing in the world. She was an amazing woman throughout her entire life. When she found out she had leukemia, she took it like a champ. She passed two weeks after learning about it, and she never stopped smiling or laughing even though she was exhausted from the treatment that they attempted to have help her.

At her funeral, my aunt and uncle told her life story. She wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty working with her dad on the farm. She followed her father around everywhere. As she got older, she fell more in love with horses, and eventually had horses of her own. I remember riding horses when we went to visit her one time. It was a lot of fun, and one of my fondest memories.

My aunt and uncle also spoke about how she wasn't afraid to take others in. My grandpa would occasionally bring home stray people and my grandma always found a way to extend the food she had made for dinner to feed everyone. One of her sayings was that "you can always add water to the soup" meaning that there is always a way to stretch what she had to feed others.1

She and my grandpa also allowed a Mexican man to stay in their home while he tried to gain citizenship in the United States. He eventually was forced to go home to Mexico, but they still love him, and he was even able to attend my grandma's funeral via Zoom. 

She really loved her kids and grandkids. I remember making baked goods with her, and she always had homemade cookies for us to eat. I remember when she would come to visit, she would always bring some sort of food for us, whether it be fried chicken, or small sandwiches. Even though they were both store bought, they were the best food I've ever had. I believe that it's because she got the food out of love for us, and love always makes everything taste better. 

My grandma wasn't a powerful woman because she was outspoken or because she actively fought for what she believed in. She was a powerful woman because she cared for her family, and did whatever she could to help them out. I don't have many things that she gave me, except for memories because that's what she did. She didn't buy us gifts, she gave us the gift of having amazing memories with her. She was strong all the way to the end of her life, and I'm proud to call her my grandmother. I want to be as selfless as she was, so that way I can exemplify exactly what my family is and how we all are powerful because we were shown how special it is to be a selfless person.