Totally Frenched Out

From the blogger formerly known as Samdebretagne

Sunday, December 21, 2008

80 and fabulous

My grandma absolutely rocks. She just turned 80 and is still going strong. She lives on the farm with my uncle and gets up at 4am everyday to milk the cows.

She's like super-grandma, she lifts weights every morning, can do one-handed push-ups and she can juggle like a mad woman. She cross country-skis the half-mile down to the mailbox and back every day during the winter.
And so I sit here, listening to her talk to my mom and my aunts in Finnish, and I think "Man, I'm so lucky I got to come home for Christmas this year."

When my grandmas moved to the US, there were no planes, she had to come by boat to New York and then by train the rest of the way to MN. They didn't have a phone, so she wasn't able to call home at the drop of a hat. She didn't get to fly back to Finland once a year, and email and internet were still decades off from being invented. She went years without talking to her family.

All things considered, us expats have it pretty easy nowadays, huh?

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

merry christmas! that's the kind of old lady i want to be. glad you have the time off to be there -- and interesting finally to figure out the finnish connection.

December 21, 2008 at 6:47 PM  
Blogger Barbara said...

Season's greetings to you Sam.
Your Grandmother is adorable, and what fascinating stories ( I do Genealogy , so I love these types of sotries !)

My Grandmothers are decased, and I regret not having been able to know mine better than I did.

All the best to you and those you love.

December 21, 2008 at 7:20 PM  
Blogger Madame K said...

Super grandmas rock.

December 22, 2008 at 11:52 AM  
Blogger Mignon said...

She is awsome! I see her spirit in you. Merry Chritmas ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta.

December 22, 2008 at 4:31 PM  
Blogger Cécy said...

I don't think there would be as many expats nowadays if it wasn't for all the easy means of transportation and communications.
She's definitely a trooper and I'm sure you still have many stories to learn from her.
Have a Merry Christmas.

December 23, 2008 at 9:01 PM  

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