Swiss Sweets

And here we are again after yet another blog hiatus, but I'm back and hopefully I mean it this time!  I realize that the majority of this blog has been a big hiatus, but let's see if this time will be the one.  Today seemed like a good day to get back into it, because it is my nonagenarian grandmother's birthday, and she is certainly worthy of a blog post.

I love this black and white picture.  This beautiful lady is my grandmother, Mrs. Sweet, and yes, that is her real name.  I enjoy being half a Sweet, and this name seems entirely appropriate for my grandmother, who has embodied the word "dear" for longer than I can remember.  Let's pause for a quick side note: I'm not trying to sneakily imply that my grandma is the only person in my family who deserves the Sweet last name, but as this post is about her, I won't be elaborating on anyone else's Sweetness at this time.

As I was thinking about what to say about my grandma today, trying to come up with a summary of her that would fit into a few paragraphs, I realized I was approaching this the wrong way.  I missed the majority of my grandmother's life by not being born yet, so I'm probably not the best one to comment on her earlier years.  But I have known her for the last 24 years from a special perspective that I share only with her ten other grandchildren, and I can certainly find a few snapshots taken through this lens.

Since this darn-cute photo of my grandma, grandpa, and one of their great-grandchildren (my youngest niece) certainly fits the theme, let's go back to the word "dear."  My grandma probably uses this word more often than most people, and she is quick to look for the good in anyone.  Even people who might fall into the "undear" category usually have at least one redeeming quality, and my grandmother will find it.  She is quick to compliment, and she can put others at ease by asking questions and being interested in them.  I was talking to a friend recently about how my generation seems to have lost the ability to carry on good conversations and truly get to know others, but I can look to my grandmother as one who can keep a conversation from falling flat.  As you can see from the pictures, she has remained a classy lady in looks as well as personality, once described to my mother by a friend as "your movie star mom."

This side of our family is Swiss, and my grandma has helped us appreciate and enjoy our family history and Swissness.  I always enjoy hearing about the background of our family, and my grandmother knows a lot.  She is intelligent and well-educated; I think she's willing to give just about anything the chance to be interesting, and will happily take the opportunity to learn something new.  My siblings and I have all benefitted from the writing ability and excellent grammar she passed on to our mother.  I think our family has a reputation for scrutinizing spelling, apostrophes, and anything else that might lead a sentence astray, and I thank my grandmother for this.

It's probably good that I've only known my grandmother for my lifetime, as I'm already running out of room, and I now have to sum up my summary of her.  Beyond grace and grammar, I can also thank her for instilling in me a love of cooking from scratch, waving to guests as they drive off down the street, knitting, travel and learning interesting things, and never rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher--they're about to get washed, so just scrape them well and save the water!  In my memory she has always put a high value on our family relationships and time together, and she has never been afraid to graciously laugh at her own expense.  I'm thankful for all this and more in my grandmother, and I hope that one day I can grow into some of the things she's passed along to me and my cousins.  At the very least, I can take advantage of the opportunity her birthday provides to use the word "nonagenarian," which I'm sure the writer in her would appreciate.

Happy 91st birthday, Grandma Sweet!