I love this picture of Grandma Porter, but not for the reasons you might think. Yes, she looks beautiful. Yes, I like the way she seems to be looking off into the future and smiling at the outcome. But I really like this picture because of her wrinkles, especially the ones around her nose. I love those wrinkles most because they remind me of the way Grandma crinkles her nose when she smiles really big or laughs really hard. In my mind I can see her giggling, mouth half covered with one of her hands, because Grandpa just told a really great joke. She spent a lot of time smiling and laughing when Grandpa was alive. And, surprisingly, she still spends a lot of time smiling and laughing even though he's gone. I think it's because, like the picture, Grandma has that ability to look ahead and see the time when she'll be reunited with the man she loves and shared over half a century of her life with. She also sees the good in the life she has here on this earth. She celebrates the time she has left with her posterity. And, above all, she rejoices in Christ.
That's the woman I want to be. And, hopefully someday, the grandma I will be as well.
I hope when I'm older that my wrinkles will be a reflection of the love I have for life, family and Christ. I hope the deep creases of my face will remind my loved ones of the happy memories we've shared together. I hope I'm as beautiful, as loving, as nurturing as Grandma Porter has been to me.
Until then, I have to keep working on my laugh lines. :)
