My grandmother is a truly beautiful woman. She has always been the most beautiful woman her age that I have ever seen, and at 94 she is still every day dressed in a suit with a brooch at her neck, her earrings on and her hair curled.

But there is a beauty inside of her, too, that I have always liked. She is older now (her response today when we told her how old she is was, "Gracious!"), and fairly well advanced into her Alzheimer's. She hasn't known who I am for a few years now, and now doesn't even recognize her only son, my Dad. But every time we go to see her, she is gracious and hospitable, welcoming us in and chatting with us as long as we choose to stay.

I know that she is not always like that. The Alzheimer's also assists her to often be fairly belligerent and regularly think she is dying. And I also know that she has not always been like that to everyone she has known in her life - even to assume that someone was always genteel and kind would probably be too much to imagine. But to me, she has always been as I often see her now - gentle, loving, affectionate and kind. She can also still find the humour in many situations and make us laugh.

Today I had the opportunity to take off her chipped nail polish and put some fresh polish on her nails. Just that little time to hold her hands took me back years to remember the times when I was younger and we would share a chair together or she would rub my back or make me peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Back then she used to tell all her neighbours that I was her granddaughter and prove how proud she was of me. Today, she told me.

It's amazing to me that when we try to do something so small to bless someone else, how often we are incredibly blessed instead. What a great day. What a great lesson to remember.