Grandparents can be your best friends, partners in crime, confidantes, and in some cases, they might be your primary parents.

Grandmothers especially, since they tend to be the matriarch of the family, are fundamental in keeping the family afloat. From their amazing homemade cooking and baking, to covering for you if you ever got in trouble, grandmothers always have your back. I know my grandmother did. 

My grandmother was an inspirational woman to many, especially me. And today, on Grandparents day, I want to share just a little bit about her.

I started Graydon with a heartfelt mission to help people enjoy healthy happy skin, the natural way without purchasing multi-step product regimens. I’d had personal health challenges which had affected my skin, and by espousing a more holistic lifestyle with simple, actionable habits, I was able to improve my health and the appearance of my skin. 

My grandmother, who was my confidant and provided emotional support during some of the more challenging times of my life, always inspired me to be the best version of myself. She had this saying that she would repeat to me when I doubted myself: "If you can’t do it as the dickens can” a saying passed down to her by her father; my great-grandfather, Archie. 

Granny grew up with three sisters and parents who had emigrated to Canada from Ireland. Like many new immigrants to Canada, they were looking for a better life. They settled in northern Ontario and lived a simple, wholesome life. When her father, who was a builder, passed away due to a heart condition from a childhood disease, she was just eleven. Her mother (my great grandmother, Isabel) raised four girls on her own and steadfastly supported the family by being a telegraph operator leading up to the Great Depression. 

Quite remarkably, she was able to send three of her four daughters to university at a time when higher education for women was scarce. My grandmother was a scholar in the romantic languages (French, German and Latin) and became a teacher at Harbord Collegiate in Toronto. She saved up and sent herself to the Sorbonne for a year away in Paris. 

Granny has always been a huge inspiration to me and though she’s been gone for many years now, I think of her daily and feel her calm, gentle, loving energy, never too far away. May we hold space for the extraordinary grandparents in our lives who have helped us become who we are. Let’s be grateful for their love, support and strength on Grandparents Day.