Grandma Barad

Bobbie Lanell Barad. Your grandma. Mom’s mom. Mom’s very best friend. Mom’s absolute biggest fan. Mom’s strength. Mom’s comfort. The one person who knows everything about mom from the inside out, and loves her anyway. The kind of mom I hope I am to you.

As I sit down today to tell you about your grandma, it seems like an impossible feat that I would ever be able to find the words that would begin to describe what my mom means to me. However, I am comforted in knowing that you will be able to experience her love firsthand. You’ll feel it and experience it for yourself, which is a blessing since her love and faithfulness is truly indescribable.

It’s difficult to describe a relationship that is founded on things so basic and simple but one that has, in the same breath, yielded a bond that is so complex. Our relationship isn’t one that’s overly exciting. We thrive on the day to day activities, like drinking coffee together, talking for hours about the big and small “stuff” and just being around one another doing anything or nothing because simply put, we just love being together. We have created a relationship that’s one of a kind. I truly believe our relationship sustains the both of us. We depend on it and one another to a degree that is difficult for others to understand.  

It doesn’t matter if I think about my earliest memories with mom or ones that are as recent as yesterday, there are constants. Love. Fun. Faithfulness.  

I count myself blessed because in many of these entries, I tell you about the unconditional love I have experienced with different members of our family. With mom, it’s even more unconditional (if that’s possible). There is literally nothing in the world I could tell her that would make her love me less or think less of me. We have never lied to one another, sugar coated something or kept something from each other because at the end of the day, nothing has the power to negatively affect our strong bond. I pray the same for us.

Our fun centers around the same activities. Mostly shopping (for you, these days), being out and about for no specific reason, drinking coffee, getting our nails done, eating out, and just being together. We have the same basic routine that never gets boring because we just enjoy being together. I pray the same for us.

Her faithfulness stretches beyond any measure you can imagine. We have each other’s backs to the greatest degree. We defend one another to the bitter end and are always on the other’s side, even if the other one is in the wrong. I pray the same for us.

When I was little, I remember mom singing to me during bathtime. I’d beg her to sing “America the Beautiful” over and over. I’m not sure why, because her voice isn’t the best, but it was beautiful to me. She’d sing it a hundred times if I asked. She made every holiday memorable. I remember sitting on the stool in the living room while she would do my hair each morning while I watched Sesame Street. She made me look like a French poodle daily.

But more than anything, I remember her incessant need to make me feel comfortable, loved, and special.

In junior high and high school, mom supported my efforts in everything I wanted to try. I loved being a part of Sandi’s Singers and dancing as a Boomtown Babe on high school drill team, she loved watching me and supporting me. She took me and my best friend, Beth, prom dress shopping every year, hung out with us, laughed with us. Junior high and high school can prove to be some awkward learning and growing times, but mom made me feel beautiful and comfortable through it all. I knew I could go to her with any situation I ever faced that seemed challenging or overwhelming.   

Then there were the days of praying for God to send us your daddy. I had my heart broken several times before your dad came along and I remember mom coming to lay down with me at night and pray over me as a twenty-something year old. She would pray with me to find my soulmate. She has never quit taking care of her baby.

I could go on and on with specifics, but really what’s most important is the big picture.

Never has there been a day in my life that I have doubted her love for me and all of the best times in my life include my mom’s presence.

My promise to you, Brier, is that I will always aspire to be the kind of mom to you that my mom has been to me.

She is the most special person in the world to me. I know we will be the best of friends. You’ll understand what I’m talking about when you get here and experience her love for yourself. She’ll spoil you with the strongest love (and a healthy supply of cute clothes, too)!  Hurry up, babygirl! Mom and I can’t wait for you to join our club.

Love you more...