I began Project Grandparents to capture and celebrate my maternal and paternal grandparents who have all been very active and vibrant fixtures in my life. Their love, their lives, and their connection are something I’ve always known but hope to never take for granted.
When you say “I do”, I believe you ought to say I will.
I will show up to face the things that scare us together.
I will commit to being your friend, your partner, your biggest critic, and your biggest fan.
I will work hard to provide the most I can for our joined prosperity.
I will feel your stress, shoulder your worries, and mitigate your anxiety.
I will be the maximum version of myself to be enough for you.
I will improve and grow because the best is always yet to come.
I will carry you in my thoughts when we are not together.
I will carry you in my arms when we are.
I will laugh at your funny jokes and more importantly be honest with you when they are not funny.
I will be able to reach higher heights because of your support.
I will lift you so your hopes become our reality.
“I will” is the future tense of everything you promise daily to your partner.
I have the unique privilege of witnessing two lives spent fulfilling the “I will” promises in my grandparents. Married for ~59 years, 6 kids later their love story is full of laughter, wit, likely smells like pine trees and homemade pies all playing to a soundtrack of a Greenbay Packer's game.
The two of them are entering an uncharted territory with one another, namely illness. For the most part, they have been gifted with healthy lives being marred only by bumps and bruises along the way. Now they face an ugly foe, and you'd better believe they are holding hands all the while. The courage, poise, and kindness they've maintained through the tests, the waiting, and the results has never faltered. When it is too much for one of them to carry, they turn to their side and know without a shadow of any doubt that their partner will be there to take on the weight for awhile. There is strength in their intimacy even when they are in a room packed with people.
Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for being pillars in my life. I come from a place of such deep love, and anyone who knows or sees you knows the sun shines on your next chapter.