The Glama Project recently returned to where it all began, St. Louis, MO, for a very special birthday for a very special lady.
Anita Schulte, my grandmother, turned 90 years young in January and it was her wish that she would receive a GLAM SESSION to prep for her big birthday bash held at Del Mar Gardens - her new home of a little over a year.
I felt so blessed to be able to spend this time with my grandma and studying all the lines in her face all over again. To her, she feels as though she's aged but what I see is another year of memories and smiles that have been added to her face.
She's held her newest great granddaughter (Bennie), survived another year free of major heart complications, made new friendships in which she wouldn't have made in her old home,, and blessed us all with her stories + smile for another trip around the sun.
It's also, neat to look back over the last year and think that we've made over almost 80 women since this project began (and we're not stopping any time soon!) and that my grandmother was the key inspiration to start this project.
It's neat to see other ladies rooting my grandmother (and her them) as they all now know her story as so many of them ask why I spend some Saturdays the way I do. Many of them even made my grandmother cards for her birthday, which brought us both to happy tears.
It's neat that this project has brought women together and allowed them to form a "sisterhood" as they call it as they're meeting new people and wanting to share their photos with the group and in turn, inspiring more and more women to sign up.
And last, it's neat to see others be so responsive to what I'm trying to accomplish. To have volunteers willingly reach out, to see brands donate much needed product, and to see all the loving comments pour in over social media saying that "THIS IS SOMETHING" is really quite incredible because internally, I believe it is too.
Though I still have much I hope to learn and better internalize myself with this project, I am thankful for what the last year has taught me and how it's brought some pretty incredible women into my life. Though I flew back to my grandma as a gift to her....really she's been the one who's been giving back to me this entire last year.
I will never be able to thank her enough for that - for lighting a fire and sparking me to do something that will hopefully continue to better myself, change my perception of how I define beauty and most importantly, better the lives of others.
Happy Birthday Grandma - may you live this year like 90 is the new 21 (or whatever year was your favorite - to me, you are still as beautiful today as you were then).
Love you,
Callie
View her full Birthday Gallery here.