My great-grandmother Emilia is 95 years old. She is the only great-grandparent that I've had in my life so far and was there from the beginning; she even changed my first diaper as she is wont to brag/remind my mother. She is present in many of my earliest memories as a toddler: making me sweetened corn mush (or polenta for those fancy Food Network types) for breakfast, having me sit next to her in church so I'd behave, scolding me when I played in the street, and smacking me with a wooden spoon when I really acted up.
Oh, but her sense of humor and love for life make up for any yelling she did when we were kids. She's barely five feet tall, but she gives the biggest hugs anyone could hope for. She has been faithful to God even as she has buried her husband, all her siblings, and even a great-grandson; she has a deep, unwaning joy that I have yet to experience.
I hope to be as much at peace as she is.
St. Emilia, pray for my Great-grandmother.
