These Three Miracles: Happy Birthday, Non!

My grandma, my Non, turns 90 today!!!! What a special day! She is such a rascal, though. She won't let any of us throw a party for her or make a big deal about it! She doesn't want to have a party because she has so many friends; she doesn't want to accidentally leave anyone off the guest list!

I just love Non so much! She has been a big part of my life growing up and as an adult. I remember this opal ring she has...I would hold her hand and roll the opals around in the setting over and over again! She has this sweet gum tree in her yard that my brother Brad and I would climb and help pick up all those prickly balls. We were always warned not to throw those gum balls - no matter what! Non always stayed with us when my parents went out of town for work trips. That was so fun, but I know I wasn't always the easiest kid to take care of. I think I was pretty high maintenance - sorry, Non! She always gave us 2 dollar bills for birthdays and just for fun. We loved them, and now my kids think they are so awesome, too. Non is so thoughtful to send them cards for their birthdays and just to say she is thinking of them! She always gives me wonderful practical things to take home when we come to St. Louis to visit! She gives me snacks for the kids, toilet paper, trinkets that she is de-cluttering from her house, hand soap; I always look forward to what she has packed up for me to take back home!

She got the reputation in our family as always having lots of plastic grocery bags because she would bring you a bag of stuff wrapped in more bags and more bags inside those bags! So, if we ever needed a bag for something, we would joke and say just ask Non, she may have one in her purse, which she almost always did! The same went for if you ever needed to return anything to any store! She would always take things back for any of us and never mind the extra trip! That also became a family joke that "Non can just return it for you if you don't like it/need it/ want it/etc!" There are so many things, I could go on and on. Most of all, she always made us feel special, loved, and important to her.

Non, you are one of a kind, and we love you so much! We hope you have a wonderful 90th birthday!

This is one of my favorite pictures. It was taken years ago - I think about 7 or 8 years ago. Here is my mom, my Aunt Stephie, Non and me. When I looked at it just now, I thought, wow, I looked a lot younger then! That got me thinking about what Non said this summer about being younger. Many of you know I had an appendectomy this summer. Non called me the next day and said, "Honey, you know if I was younger, like 70 or 75, you know I would take the Greyhound and come help you with those babies!" It was so sweet and so cute and so genuine. That gives you a little bit of an idea of her spunk, vitality and selflessness!

Last fall at Eli's birthday party at Mimi and Pop's house.

Here's Non with my cousin Jake who actually named Non when he was a little guy. He called her Nonnie which then shortened to Non, and now we all affectionately call her "Non!"