01/03/2026
A week ago, the day after Christmas, I sat beside my grandmother as she took her last breath.
She was the original baby whisperer in our family.
Our village.
The one who always showed up.
Every time a grandchild was born — all ten of them — she traveled to them. She cared for the mother and the baby together. She cooked nourishing meals. She showed up without needing to be asked and without expecting anything in return. Her presence was steady, generous, and full of love.
She was a nurse. Her work lived in hospitals and nurseries. She followed the systems of her time — but within them, she led with heart. She noticed babies. She cared deeply. She brought warmth, steadiness, and presence into clinical spaces.
Growing up just twenty minutes down the road from her shaped my entire life. I wouldn’t be who I am today without her as part of my village. I became a nurse because of her — because I wanted to take care of people the way she took care of people. And even though my path looks different than hers, she had her hand in all of it.
My work today lives outside the hospital. I use different tools. I speak a different language. I have words now for things she felt and lived without naming.
Josephine was the inspiration for starting Nectar & Nurture.
But my grandmother was the foundation — the lineage this work comes from. The woman who showed me what it looks like to be a village.
I hope to honor her in this work for as long as I’m able.
To carry her legacy forward in the families who invite me into their lives —
with the same steadiness, deep listening, presence, and selfless service she lived so fully.
