My beloved grandmother, Melba Sanchez-Lau (or grandma China, as we call her), celebrated her 95th birthday on October 22, 2019. It seemed only yesterday my sisters and I sang Happy Birthday for her 90th. Back then I traveled solo to Miami to celebrate. This year, with the death of my other grandmother in January, along with the ill health of my mom, I knew how important it was for the girls and Don to make the trip. Life is precarious. Our loved ones more important than time and money. Time with family, even if for a short visit, is priority. With those truths in my heart, over late summer I began to make plans to make sure the four of us would all be there to celebrate this blessed milestone.
I did not grow up with my bio grandmothers yet I was twice blessed with two incredibly strong, courageous warrior women on both sides of my family, both who overcame many rough patches in their younger lives only to triumph in the later ones. At fifty-one, I have been lucky to have had these women in my life longer than not. Yet being adopted, there are many things about them that I missed out on. For those reasons, whenever I spend time with grandma China I like to inquire about her life and the things she has learned. She had remained consistent over time about the importance of being kind, working hard and having faith. Those things I believe, (along with good genes!) have kept her so healthy and strong for ninety-five years. Grandma lives alone, still cooks and works in her yard daily. She loves Let's Make a Deal, Spanish television and takes good care of herself. At ninety-five, well, she looks decades younger. She is quite simply, remarkable.
I asked grandma at her birthday dinner what her secret was. Her response, "To love everybody" was simple yet profound. I think that is her other secret, to her long life.
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| Our Motley Crew! |
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| Mi hermana, Kimberly. |
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| My two sisters Natalie and Sabrina. |
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