You can always find him with a cigarette in his hand and the truth coming out of his mouth. Quick to laugh with you, even faster to let you know when you made a bad choice. He taught me to be brave, honest, and that when you work with integrity, you have nothing to fear.

You can always find her with the kindest eyes and a soft smile on her face. She taught me that love is a verb. It’s not something you say, it’s something you do and the value of having an open heart for others will never steer you wrong. “Donde come uno, comen dos.” Is what she raised me with. It’s an old adage, translated directly it means, “Where one can eat, two can eat.” In other words, there’s always enough, share your blessings and you’ll never run out.

My grandparents.

They are two of the most important people in the world to me and it would be a massive understatement to say that I adore them. That they are utterly beautiful both inside, and out, and that my heart longs for them to repay them for every beautiful blessing they’ve bestowed upon me. We never had much, but we always had enough and that my friends, has seen me through every adversity in life. They taught me more about life than I could ever express in a simple blog post. The value of hard work, honesty, and kindness were never ever told to me, I was never instructed on how or why these things mattered, I was shown each of these values by the daily actions of my grandparents. Love is more important than money, and kindness, is more important than things. I know that, because of them.

Quite simply, they are the most incredible people I’ve ever met and I could go on for weeks about how they taught me the importance of treating yourself, your spouse, and your children with love, respect, and gentleness. They never minced words and were sure to bestow on me a proper understanding of both the sanctity of marriage and also the value of self-love. Honestly though, the words just get jumbled up in my mind at the very thought of expressing myself in regards to their greatness. I go from being an articulate and concise writer to a little girl staring up at her heroes, words always falling short of properly expressing my awe at them. They are magnificent. Not in their great accomplishments, but in their presence, their appreciation for life, and the way that they loved me which, in turn, taught me how to love my own children.

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I love capturing love. Honest, authentic, joyful, love. If you’d like your love story documented, please contact me.