My 1st Guest Post: Happy Birthday, Mimi!

Good morning friends! It seems like it’s been forever…maybe because it has! This past week as been full of excitement but also so many questions as well! Trying to make it through these last two months of school!

As far as the internship process goes, I am just three weeks away from finding out where my next stop on the map will be. I have two more interviews at the end of the week, one with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville (via Skype) and the second with Medical University of SC in Charleston; I am beyond excited for both and know that God will take me exactly where He wants me to go!

I also have so more exciting news for you! I am going to add a “guest post” component to this blog. Not necessarily other bloggers, although it certainly could go there, but for right now people that I feel have something to share with you.  As most of you know, the most important thing to me about my blog is that you, my “readers,” are constantly learning, engaging your minds, and finding something new that you are passionate about. I never want to feel as though you are checking back over and over again only to hear my day to day life stories, but rather coming back because you feel that I have something to tell or share with you. I am not certain how I am going to handle it yet, maybe a guest post of the week or something along the lines of that. I have many great topics to share with you from exercise tips all the way to make-up how-tos.

Anyways, let’s get to the point! Today, in honor of my grandmother Mimi, it is her birthday, I am going to share with you a post written about her and her fast-forward life of health, happiness, and overall wellness.  She had it figured out long before the rest of us…something I truly honor about the life she lived! Here is my mom to share her story.

The wisdom of an angel.

My mom (Ashley’s grandmother), “MiMi,” was the epitome of Southern grace, charm, beauty and strength.  Her vocabulary had no R’s (she was Matha and my dad, the love of her life, is Chalie).  She was soft-spoken yet strong as tungsten and wise beyond measure about health, nutrition, natural beauty, love, life and happiness.  She was filled with divine insight, and she shared her knowledge through her daily shining example of a life well lived. Even though her life was cut short after seventy-six years due to complications from Parkinson’s disease, she had lived the healthiest life of anyone I have ever known.  My dad, Charlie, recently said “she was an angel on earth, and God needed her back in Heaven”.

Here are just a few of the things that she practiced all of her life — years before the rest of the world got back on board of a wholesome, healthy lifestyle.

•     Have sit-down dinners as often as possible.
•     A colorful plate = a healthy plate.
•     Oatmeal and bananas are important at breakfast.
•     Eat fish to promote brain power.
•     Limit red meat intake and have a meatless dinner once a week.
•     Take a multi-vitamin.
•     Drink 64oz. of water a day and limit alcohol intake (Even though an occasional peach daiquiri        is lovely!)
•     Brew Iced tea weak and not very sweet with dried mint added!
•     A 20 minute rest cures a “sinking spell”.
•     A small bit of chocolate satisfies a “sweet tooth”.
•     Eat fresh cherries to battle pain from inflammation.
•     Wear sunscreen, hats and sunglasses.
•     Do core strengthening exercises and take brisk walks.
•     Always re-use, recycle and re-purpose!!

The next collection is just a few of the fun little things that MiMi knew and shared.  If she were alive today, I guess they would be “MiMi’s helpful Tweets”!

•     Walk fast at the mall for added exercise.
•     Re-use small glass juice bottles by filling them with water and keeping them on the refrigerator door for instant water bottles.  Kids love these!
•     Keep your nails beautiful and manicured.  They are one of the first things noticed!
•     Wear rubber glove while doing dishes for soft hands.
•     To smooth feet, walk backwards on the beach and drag feet back and around.
•     Keep Blistex on your bedside table and use daily.
•     Silk pillow cases keep your hair smooth through the night.
•     Re-fill your gas tank when it is still half full.
•     Keep $100.00 in your checking account but consider it your zero.
•     Back away from the mirror when your brush, floss and gargle to keep mirror clean.
•     Read constantly to yourself and your children – especially your Bible.
•     Don’t let your eyes be bigger than your stomach!
•     Be careful not to wear your clothes too baggie – you may grow to fit them!
•     Always be careful not to jump from the pot to the frying pan!
•     The key to a happy, long marriage is…..separate bathrooms!!!
•     Trust in the Lord with all your heart and be kind.

So even though all of these tips are not rocket science, the compilation of them all can lead to a happy, healthy, wholesome, beautiful, well-lived life filled with blessing others in wonderful ways.  MiMi’s key was in the simplicity of things and in being practical and kind.  She would sometimes joke that “no good deed goes unpunished” whenever kind gestures seemed futile.  But she remained kind, loving, generous, faithful and stedfast as one of the best examples of an angel on earth I have ever known.

–Debby L. Harper

I hope you all enjoyed the first of many guests post, I know I certainly did… keep checking back for more of them!

Have a beautiful and blessed Sunday!

Good Health!