I am very blessed to have both of my grandmothers still living and a part of my life. Tomorrow my paternal grandmother will turn 98 years old. That just boggles my mind! To think of a lifetime that spans nearly 100 years...the people and events she has known; two World Wars, the Korean, Viet Nam, and Iraq wars, and conflicts in other places around the world like Panama, Somolia and Bosnia; eighteen presidential administrations; the advances and developments of science and medicine; a career as a school teacher; changes in our culture, society and values; and the ebb and flow of life. The losses she's suffered of friends and family; most heartbreaking, the death of a beloved daughter. She's obviously a fighter and a survivor, bouyed through life's ups and downs by her faith in God and her sense of humor. She still, after 98 years, delights in the change of seasons like it was the first time she experienced them. In spite of a loss of just about everything she had; from her loved ones, her home, her strength, her memory and her dignity, she says she's not ready to die. There are still things to be enjoyed, blessings to receive and things to be thankful for. She does wonder at times why she is still here; why God has not taken her home when all her friends and so many loved ones have been gone so long. Maybe it's because I am a slow learner and she has so much more to teach me.