Learn, learn, read, and learn. - MVP

My grandma passed away recently and I was very close with her. Her initials were MVP. Fitting. We had many chats about philosophy, psychology, math, and life. She was an avid learner and adventurer. I wish we could have spent more time together but we never lived in the same country. I cherished the time we did spend together and the phone calls we had in absence. In honour of her today I’ve put together a short list of some themes that she lived by.

Happiness is a choice: Happiness is a choice that you make every day. You chose to get stuck in your wallows. She leant me a book about happiness once and I read it while on vacation. It was when I was going through a tough time mentally. Reading it and chatting with her flipped something in my mind where I realized that while the circumstances I had experience a few months prior were hard, traumatic, I could choose to no longer be beholden to those feelings. After one conversation I decided to choose a different way forward and my life opened up again.

Toughen up: Get off your ass and make the life that you want. Screw the victim mentality. Toughen up. Don’t be a naff. She was pretty hard on me in this way but I was pretty soft. It was tough love but she was the kind of person that knew sitting around and waiting for the world to change wasn’t a winning strategy. She was one of the toughest people I’ve known.

Have fun: Life’s for having fun and trying new things. She went micro-gliding for I believe her 70th birthday. She windsurfed until her knees no longer let her. She socialized and saw countless friends all the time. I could only dream of having the amount of good friends that she had. She would always scream in movies at the parts that were scary even when they weren’t scary. It was hilarious.

Believe in magic: My grandma was one quirky women. My grandpa, equally. Perhaps that’s why she was a good match. My grandma believed in magic. Something greater than ourselves. I think this aspect reflected her belief that anything was possible. As she grew older and could no longer fly on planes she would always joke about flying over to visit on her magic carpet. I believed her and I have no doubt she’s on her magic carpet right now.

Always be learning: I did a little YouTube video about my grandpa after he passed and interviewed my grandma as a part of it. She told me to learn and learn. Wise words and reflective of a woman who never stopped learning right until the end.

I love you, Gran. Rest in peace MVP.

I appreciate you.

M