Thankful Thursday #62

I am so thankful for so many things everyday.

I love making jewelry.  I love connecting with people and creating these charms that mean so much to me. Each charm is inspired by family, family memories, and the special people throughout my life.

I am thankful this week for special occasions.

Some of my "sisters" and I got together for a special lunch this week.  Tuesday would have been my Meme's 100th birthday.  She passed away 8 years ago.  She was every bit of the strong, independent, Christian women I talk about.  She was my great grandmother and when my daughter was born we had five generations on that side.  All women.  We had five generations on my dad's side too. On that side it was special because he had both grandparents living at the time.

My great aunt got us all together to have lunch to celebrate Meme's birthday.  It was me, her, my mom, my grandmother, my great aunt Cecilia, my cousin Laura, and my daughter.  We have spent countless hours around my grandmother's kitchen table talking.

It was always fun and you never knew where the conversation would go.  We could talk about anything, and we did!  I think it's so important for women, and young girls, to have a safe place to talk about whatever they want and need to.  We had the benefit of different generations and the ideas and opinions from those different ages.  We had the wisdom of my great grandmother and the youth and new ideas of me and my sister and cousin.  Even as a little girl, my now 24 year old daughter, loved talking with us women.

My great grandfather passed away in a car accident when I was little.  My great grandmother never even dated.  My great aunt was a single mom with my cousin so they lived together until my great grandmother passed away.  I can't imagine how hard it was for my aunt because she not only lost a parent, but it was like losing a spouse too because they had lived together for so long.

They were a great support for each other and my cousin had the benefit of two strong, independent women raising her.  She's strong and independent herself so it was a great example for her.

I am so glad my aunt got us all together.  It took about a second for us to remember how much fun it always is when we sit together and chat.  Everyone stays so busy but it's so important to nurture our relationships with other women.  There's so much to be said for being able to take the daily walls down and be open, honest, and ourselves with others.

An interesting fact.  My great grandfather passed away on July 7th and was buried on my mom's birthday, July 10th, years ago.  When we knew Meme was at the end it was late June 2010.  She held on a little longer than we expected.  I kept telling my mom I thought she was waiting for July 7th.  She was.  She passed away on the 7th and was also buried on my mom's birthday.  Another interesting fact, while we celebrated what would have been her 100th birthday on Tuesday, my great grandfather's 104th birthday would have been on Monday.


This is a picture I posted about our lunch celebration this week.

These are the pictures from the newspaper when my daughter was christened at church.  It was a very special thing to have five generations on both sides.


My dad's side.  That is my grandmother in the white jacket that sang in our church choir and is the inspiration behind my traditional church hymn charms. My sister looks so much like her.

And, this is my mom's side with the generations being all women.  That is my Meme holding my daughter.

Meme had this picture put in the paper with the history of the christening gown.  This isn't the gown my daughter wore the day of her christening.  My mom bought a gown that all three of my children wore and that I can pass down for my grandchildren.

I am sharing all of this as part of my Thankful Thursday but also because the whole idea behind my blog name and business name, Sweet Tea and Sisters, is because of the women on all sides of my family and my relationships with them. All of my charms are inspired by family. 

***Two more interesting facts: My kids had their last name changed to my maiden name, Robinson.  They wanted the name of the family raising them.  Also, Meme was a Robison, without the "n."  My sister's married name is Smith and I remember Meme telling my sister on her wedding day that they had something in common.  She was also a Robison before becoming a Smith.