Happy Birthday Nana!

Dear Nana,

Today is your 91st birthday. I wish I could spend these last years with you and that you wouldn't be spending them alone in a nursing home. And I know my mom wishes it too, and is sad that she won't be able to come see you today like I will. It's been a year since we've visited, so I hope you remember who I am and who my sweet little girls are. I wish they could get to know you better, but hopefully we'll make a few memories and take a few picures that they can have forever.

Your house was such a fun place as a child! I have great memories of building with blocks and Lincoln Logs, looking through old pictures, climbing the big tree in the backyard, and playing with the dollhouse in your sunroom. You made some interesting meals (which we rarely ate) but I loved scrounging through your fridge for ice cream and cake frosting. And I really thought that water spout on the inside of the fridge door was cool. Every picture in the house told a story, and we made many memories there too.

We visited the museums, the parks, and the mall. My cousins and I played games outside, and Pops would make us all laugh. I miss his laugh. I'm sure you do too. But the one place we'd always go everytime we visited you was to Mass. And we visited that little church gift shop you ran, but sadly I never had much interest in any of those items. But now those special rosaries and prayer books are some of my greatest treasures! I wish I could come help you in that gift shop and look at all those beautiful things. I wish we could go to that church and pray together. I wish we could go and see your dear husband's grave there at the military base where he honorably worked his whole life. But at least I get to give you a hug and show you my little growing girls, my precious treasures. And we'll be praying for you, hoping you will have some comfort and consolation from Christ in these final years as he prepares you for eternity with him and with Pops.

Nana, you are the one who has brought the Faith to my life. You married Pops before he became Catholic, and you raised your children in the Church. My other grandparents weren't Catholic either. And so my parents were married in the Church and I was baptized Catholic. The graces of the sacraments and probably your many rosaries somehow graced me with a desire to know the Lord and the Holy Catholic Church he founded. I am so blessed. So blessed because of you, Nana.

Thank you. And Happy Birthday! See you in a few hours.
Your devoted granddaughter,
Blair

Here are you and Pops with Mary Clare at 9wks old, what a special memory!