• In my 20s, I was stuck in a Midwestern city I didn't want to be in, missing life on the East Coast. • I thought about quitting my job and moving, but some people in my life were skeptical. • My grandmother told me I should do what makes me happy, and I followed her advice.

In her 103 years on the planet, my grandmother has accumulated plenty of wisdom, but she keeps most of it to herself.

If I were in my 10th decade of life, I'd be holding court constantly, dispensing advice to anyone who would listen. But my hunch is that my grandmother, whom my extended Southern family affectionately calls Mema, doesn't want to be presumptuous. (Apparently, humility isn't genetic.)

Every so often, though, she'll share an insight so unexpected — and so on point — that it shifts something inside y

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