MOG #3 : To you and your kin,

Tonight's MOG comes from a fiery young woman I'm grateful to call my room-mate. Newly acquainted last year, I could see this girl was a gem- kind, funny, caring and genuinely sparkly in her own way. Her sense of self worth is admirable, her passion for moving forward undeniable, this is the type of person that makes herself better, not bitter. She's the kind of girl who can admit she's wrong but then prove she's more right than you in the same breath. A real force to be reckoned with and a true blessing in my life. Thanks for your contribution, Brianne! 

It’s been a little over a month since my grandmother passed away after a long battle with ALS. Christmas this year just wasn’t the same without her. At one point my grandfather, one of the strongest men I know, broke down and cried and asked for a moment of silence in her memory. I have never seen him cry in my life, not even when my father died. He had been married to my grandma for 51 years, never done anything without her there by his side. It was a truly painful moment to see him like that and to know all the pain he felt, how lost he must be.

Immediately after our moment of silence, which was mostly full of tears, the five grandkids and our parents opened our cards from Papa. Usually we get $100 from our grandparents every year, but this year we got something a little more surprising. I opened my card, feeling bad that my grandfather was giving all of us any money at all after the loss he’d just suffered, only to find a big, generous cheque inside – my grandmother’s life insurance money, divided between us all. My hand flew to my mouth and the tears streamed silently down my cheeks as I sat there staring at that small piece of paper in disbelief. After a moment I jumped up and was the first to give my Papa a great big hug and tell him how much I love him. In the spirit of Christmas, there was nothing more amazing than that moment, sitting with my family sharing silent, bitter-sweet tears.

The silence, our hug, that moment when I opened the card… Those are the little things you find yourself unwrapping in life, no matter what season, and make it all worth living for.