Who is the Spirited Woman in Your Family?

My grandmother froze her trash. She didn't enjoy smelling old chicken bones and brown banana peels, so every week until the trash man drove to her curb to pick up her garbage, she wrapped up all the 'stinky' items in foil and stashed them in her freezer, right next to the valuable jewelry and Peppermint Stick ice cream.

Any woman who is ingenious enough to freeze her trash is a Spirited Woman in my book, but my grandma was a fun-loving, adventurous woman in many other ways. A much-esteemed dance teacher for 50 years, she once confessed that her Baptist father strictly forbade her as a teenager to dance at all. She stood up to her father, continued to pirouette, and met my grandfather in a ballet class several years later. It was love at first sight and their love continued for 64 more years. 

When I was a child, she dressed in white go-go boots and purple pants and told me I was beautiful every day, even when I knew I wasn't. Every year on my birthday, we went out to lunch and shopped all afternoon for the perfect outfit for me. When I was sixteen, she took me on my first plane ride to Arizona where we both promptly fell ill with the stomach flu. We spent four days over Thanksgiving in a hotel room where she told me what it felt like to truly be in love. It was during that trip when she told me never to marry a man who didn't make me feel weak in the knees when he kissed me. As I grew into a young woman with my own ideas and dreams, my grandmother became a strong role model. She believed in her husband and loved him more passionately than I've ever seen a woman love her husband. She worked alongside him in his accounting office for over 40 years in addition to being an entrepreneur herself, teaching others ballet, tap, and jazz until she was 80 years old. My grandma had a great giggle, never said a swear word unless she spelled it out while whispering, always smelled good, acted 20 years younger than she was, and made me feel great about myself every single time we talked.

Everyone has one in their family ... a Spirited Woman who freezes trash or is still tap dancing when she's 80. If my grandmother were here now, she'd whisper, "Gosh d-a-r-n i-t, spread your spirit around and teach other women how to stand up for themselves, be strong, and live their dreams."

Grandma, this one's for you.

Besides you, who is the Spirited Woman in your family?

- Vicky De Coster - www.wackywomanhood
Click here for more of Vicky's posts.

Comments

[Tess Marshall]

My family is full of spirited women! My daughter Kristy is 32 years old was born without a right hand and competes in triathlons. Imagine swimming in the ocean for a mile plus in a crowd of competitors and then racing your bike for several miles and finishing up with a 5K run. She also is in sales for New Balance and owns two lofts in Atlanta Georgia. Amazing.

Her twin sister Kara is a flight attendant for South West and everyone knows how spirited their employees are! It's all about LUV!

Nicole planned adoption for her daughter when she was 20 years old. Jon and she are expecting a boy this December! We are so excited.

Shelly is loving and generous and touches everyone she meets with kindness. She has taught my two grandchildren values, discipline and how to love and accept others.
Those are our four amazing spirited daughters!
Tess Marshall

[Therese]

The spirited person in my family is my sister. Shannon Crossbear. She works for the Federation of Families and lives in the wooods in Northern Minnesota. She built and owns her own gypsie story telling wagon.She holds retreats for women and definatly howls at the moon.