96 Years and Counting | Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Today, my grandma Palmina turns ninety-six years old. She's outlived my grandpa by thirty-three years. For that and many other reasons, she is an extraordinary woman overcoming hardships I can't bare to even imagine like her husband being MIA for seven years during WWII, raising a daughter alone until he finally reappeared, losing that daughter to a car accident six months after his return, moving from Sicily to America alone, enduring a long ship ride, waiting for her husband to join her many months later. And this was only the beginning. Life would continue to test her, but despite the numerous hardships she has faced, she powers on. Since she was very young, she labored on her family's 300 acre farm, washed clothes by hand, fired her shot gun at men she didn't want on her property, and married a man her parents didn't approve of. She is the strongest, most determined woman I know.

The hard thing about being her granddaughter though - was there were never any toys at her house to play with! My grandma Palmina believes that babies don't need much - some food and love, and they'll survive. So, instead of playing while at her house, I used to sit around the table with her and her friends while they played cards and drank coffee. Her idea of living and having fun is heading to the casino for a night at the slots and a feast at the buffet. She'll give me the same advice over and over again, "never let anybody step on top of your nose, a-mamma" or "you gotta use-a your brains-a-honey," she says as she puts her thick leather-like pointer finger to her head and waves it back and forth. Or my favorite mantra, "It's-a better to laugh than-a to cry."

And so, with that very brief summary of a very full life, I wish my grandmother a very happy birthday full of love and laughter. We have always said you'll make it to one hundred, grandma! Forza!!!

xo