My grandmother passed away this week. She was 97 years old, so it was certainly a life that was long and lived to its fullest.
My grandfather passed away several years ago. He was a strong-willed guy and always wanted to portray himself as a figurehead of the family. While he generally succeeded in that regard, I learned a very valuable lesson after he died.
Most of the grand kids always thought that Grandma was quiet and generally played the role of subservient wife. As I quickly noticed after my grandfather's passing, it could not be further from the truth. My grandmother was the leader of the family. She was very strong and ran the family. Her personality also came out quite a bit more after my grandfather's passing. We were able to see a different side of her we had not seen before.
The lesson I took from that revelation is that you can be a good role model and the leader of your family without being the loudest or strongest personality in the family. There is such a thing as a quiet, yet powerful family role model. I'm not sure that I'm the leader of our family, but I do know that I learned a valuable lesson from my grandmother as to how to be an effective role model.
