The Gifts of February

February, A Month of Gifts

The month of February really does not have much to offer, the weather is never very pleasant, here in New England during February. The best thing about the month is that it is the shortest month of the year.

However, for me, personally February has given me some very special gifts.

In February 1896, my grandmother was born. She played a very important part in my growing up. My grandmother and grandfather lived in a very small town and provided me with the gift of two weeks a year living the life of a princess in a tiny rented house. We would take daily walks to the town square and attend Wednesday night band concerts at the band shell. She saved money all year to buy my sisters and me new back to school outfits. Since my mom made most of our clothes, going into a shop and trying on dresses was a very special treat. I owe my love of reading to her and to my mother, her daughter. My grandma used talking books for the last ten years of her life and we read a lot of the same books and talked about them over the phone no matter where I lived.

In February 1919, my father was born. Although according to styles today he would have been considered hands off father he gave me his strength and need to succeed. I guess you could say he gave me the gift of stubbornness. He also taught me to fight for what I believed in even if most of the fighting was with him.

In February of 1973, my wonderful daughter was born. She came into my life at a time when I was really getting to know myself. We had just moved to Colorado and I became friends with women who leaned way further left than anyone I knew in Florida. I had been expanding my reading and was questioning a lot of what I had thought was true. Here I was with this perfect baby girl in the exciting land of Boulder Colorado and life seemed like a blank canvas. A few years after she was born I became single with three young children. We really had to pull together to get through the next years but we did it. Even Though Leslie was really young, she contributed a lot to who I am today.

In February 1996, Leslie gave me my grand daughter Anna. Leslie was working with me at the time and Anna spent entire day’s wit us in the office. I got to be there for her first smile, the first time she stood up, and I might have been the first person she threw up on.

Now here I am in 2013 about to turn 66. My grandmother and father live on in me. The three of us are living on in my daughter and grand daughter. Talk about gifts that keep on giving.

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