Motivation and Inspiration

Today would have been my Grandmother's 76th birthday. She passed away last February, after an amazing, grueling fight against multiple boughts of cancer that lasted nearly thirty years. My Gram was an extremely amazing woman; born with a mobility issue after her umbilical cord cut off most of the circulation to her feet, my Grandmother spent the better part of her childhood in and out of hospitals, and relatively bedridden due to various surgeries. I don't think she never knew a life without some sort of physical pain.

Left to Right: Me, My Grandmother, Cousin Brenna

Gram (as I called her) lived with the fact that people stared at the way she walked, she lived with the thought of knowing she could not physically participate in athletics, she lived much of her life during a time that was widely inaccessible to individuals with physical impairments. Yet, thanks to yet another amazing woman in our family (Gram's mother), my Grandma never pitied herself, never sought sympathy, never complained, never hung her head in shame. My Gram got married, she had two beautiful daughters (one of which is my lovely mommy), lived through an abusive marriage and pulled herself up by her bootstraps and sought to raise her daughters on her own. My Grandmother was one of few single mothers during her time, and was proud of what she had lived through, and had provided for her daughters.

Yet another amazing accomplishment came after Gram remarried and began raising not only her first two daughters, but a stepson, a son, and another daughter. My Grandmother was yet again one of very few of her kind, as she went back to college at nearly forty years old. She graduated and became a dietitian, which she took great pride in doing at several hospitals.

My grandmother fought and survived cervical cancer, and three battles with lymphoma. Unfortunately, a life of physical pain is never endured easily, and 75 years is a lot of fight to have for a single woman barely five feet tall. She was an amazingly warm, loving, loyal, spirited, intelligent, sincere woman who is dearly loved and missed every minute of every day.

My only hope in life is to provide as much love and dedication to my family and children as my Gram gave to the world. The greatest lesson I learned from Gram (aside from unconditional love and support) was to "Buck up" and tough it out.

Life isn't easy, and it sure as hell isn't fair, but one thing's for sure, it's one hell of a ride and it's way too short to spend unhappy.

~K.D. Bugs