Every year around Mother’s Day I have to pay tribute to my grandmother Ruth for saving my life. It was because of her struggle with Diabetes, which ultimately ended her life that eventually led me to get healthy and lose weight. I absolutely adored my grandmother, she was one of the most giving and eccentric people I had ever known and she taught me so many things. She was the only person I knew who was bold enough to wear flower and stripped prints together in the same outfit. One of my favorite memories of her was driving to a huge field in the summertime to pick collard greens. I remember being in that field with her like it was yesterday and it warms me inside every time I think about it. My grandmother taught me many things about kindness, music and giving but she also taught me poor eating habits which caused her to have two strokes and both of her legs amputated. The thing that made me most afraid was that she was never the same after her legs were amputated she turned into someone I almost didn’t recognize.
I was in graduate school when my grandmother passed away and I felt homesick for the very first time. My sense of home had changed and my life’s path had been altered. But after some time had passed I started to really reflect on her life and what she meant to me and I knew that although her life was cut short by an awful disease I would not allow her to have died for naught. My grandmother’s illness taught me a very valuable lesson not only about weight loss but the importance of taking care of yourself and your health first so that you have something to give to others.
Most of the time when we think about weight loss we fantasize about how good we’re going to look, the clothes we want to buy or some other thing we think we will finally be able to attain as a result. But once the weight comes off and you are living and maintaining what you’ve lost it really comes down to living your best life in a healthy body that you continue to create on a daily basis. I encourage you to find your own source of inspiration that will keep you going on your journey when you feel like giving up. My grandmother changed my life in more ways than she probably could have ever imagined. She really did save my life and for that I will always be eternally grateful.
