She posted that her eldest and his wife are expecting their first baby. She's going to be a grandmother! She is so excited and I am so excited for her! She and her husband had kids younger than Kevin and I did, and it is totally appropriate (and good and fine) that none of our kids are married yet. Naomi is just 20. And I'm not in any hurry for them to marry and have children. I want it to be in God's timing. But still. Grandbabies are awesome!
So my friend mentioned that she was going to stop dyeing her hair in honor of being a grandmother. Apparently without hair color, her hair is pretty much silver.
Mine is not. This very recent pic shows me with natural hair color. I have some gray, but it is hard to see.
So, there is nothing wrong with gray hair at all. I have friends who are gray at 40 and that is totally cool. I'm kind of glad that I am not all gray because if I was, people would probably assume I am Rose's grandmother and that would feel awkward. I mean, I had her when I was 44. Plenty of 44 year old women ARE grandmothers. So it is reasonable.
I was staring at my (dark) hair in the mirror and thinking, hmmm, why is my hair still dark?
Did I do anything to have dark hair at age 50?
Nope. Nada. Zilch.
My mom held onto her dark hair for decades. She grayed slowly. And she looks great in silver hair, by the way.
So genetically, I am predisposed to having dark hair for many years. Kevin, who is younger than I am, is much grayer than I am. On him, it looks very distinguished and handsome :-). I'm sure I will look fine in gray but right now, I look pretty young, if I do say so myself.
Anyway, it got me thinking about characteristics that I am happy about which I just HAVE, not through effort but just because of genetics.
I'm tall -- short is fine, but as a matter of fact, I'm tall and I rather like being tall.
I'm thin -- genetics. The kids are way thinner. We have some quick metabolisms in the family line.
I'm smart -- genetics. My parents are smart.
I'm organized -- I don't know if that is genetics, but I was born this way so yeah, I just naturally am organized.
And of course, I have some weaknesses and problems and challenges.
I'm diabetic -- again, genetics. Diabetes runs rampant in my maternal line. I used to feel guilty about it, like I caused it by poor eating habits in my 20's. And honestly, I did eat a very high carb diet and that was probably bad for me, but reality is that genetically I was strongly predisposed towards Type 2 diabetes.
I'm a homebody -- in some ways, this is fine. I will admit sometimes I am irritated at myself for finding it SO hard to get out and about. I have friends who run their large families to fun events frequently. I took our 3 Littles to the local library a few days ago and while it went fine, it wore me out!
I am not artistic -- It is truly pathetic in some ways. Like, I am stick figure bad. All six of my girls, including ROSE, are stronger artists than I am.
And on it goes. Some strengths, some weaknesses.
What I need to do is be humble about my gifts and patient (while working to overcome) my weaknesses.
Re diabetes, I've been tightening up my diet. I think I am doing better and hope for improved A1c numbers (a measure of blood sugar over the last 3 months) when I'm checked next.
Re getting out and about, sometimes I just need to do it. I need to thank God for being able to stay home with the kids and that I have a great minivan that safely gets us where we need to go.
Re being smart -- I am. I really am. I grasp science and math concepts quickly. I write well. I have worked on all those things but I have kids who work harder than I do and struggle far more than I ever did. I can be thankful and even proud of my accomplishments, but I should not be arrogant. If I lived in Regency England, I would probably be disdained because in that era, high society women (not that I would probably be a high society woman, but whatever) were expected to paint, draw, play the pianoforte, and sing. I can sing, but everything else would probably have been a wash.
Enough rambling...
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