Those of you who know me know that my Grandma Gladys holds a special place in my heart.  She passed away almost 6 years ago.  Every year on January 31, we celebrate her birthday.  We make snowmen if we are lucky enough for snow, and we send balloons up to heaven with a little wish.
I have thought often about how motherhood can be passed down from generation to generation.  My grandma was a wonderful woman.  She was a woman of faith.  A woman of kindness.  A woman who knew how to work hard and to endure that which was hard.  She was a woman who knew that life was meant to be enjoyed no matter what it brought you.  She was a woman who knew how to love and make people feel special.  And she passed all that wonderfulness to my mom.  My mom is every single one of those things.  I seriously couldn't ask for a more amazing mother.  And she has passed many of those things on to me.  I am far from perfect, but I at least value those things and strive for them.
Good mothers who love their children and strive to do their best should never be taken for granted.  I am so grateful for a grandma who taught my mother what was most important in life.  And for a mother who taught me in turn by her own example.  I hope as my girls grow up and become mothers themselves, that I will not have broken the chain, and that all the goodness and greatness of these two women will continue to flow down through the generations.