The grandmas are right.

The grandmas are right. Life is better when you sit and take it in. When you’re slow and there is no rush. When sipping tea and embroidery, the simple things, are enjoyable and productive enough to satisfy. Life is better when family is all together, and hugs and kisses are plentiful. When warm blankets and comfy chairs are appreciated, and family is cherished more than gold.

The grandmas are right. It doesn’t matter what the world thinks of you. It doesn’t matter what you look like, it is your heart that matters. Your smile really does light up the whole world, and yes, you are loved, and yes, everything will be okay even though it seems like it won’t.

The grandmas are right. Homemade everything is better. Tortellini, tacos, tiramisu. Scarves, sculptures, sandcastles. Minutes, memories, magic. Handcrafted, hand-molded, handmade- all words to say thoughtful, loved, and oh so special.

The grandmas are right. You should live while you’re young. You should be brave, and kind, and laugh all the time. Laugh so much that your abs hurt the next day and you have a hard time getting out of bed you’re so sore. Because, as they say, before you know it, you’ll be sore regardless.

The grandmas are right because they’ve been here before too, and maybe, they have some regrets. Little ones and big ones, about all the ways they didn’t love right, or laugh right, or live right. And now they can look back, and see them better, because with age comes wisdom or maybe it comes with memories and emotions, and those guide the words they speak and the things they do. They tell us of their lives and the things they wish to have done differently in how they live now, and their chiding, and their silly emotional reaction after you gave them a card on Christmas.

So, it is better to learn now, that the grandmas are right. They really truly are.

---

-Annelise