Christian Mier came across a video on social media when she got an idea. She quickly texted her family group chat, bought supplies and told everyone to meet at grandma’s house.
María Guadián, her 86-year-old grandmother, did not expect to see her house filled with her grandchildren. But before she knew it, she was having her arms painted and giving each of them a tight hug.
Mier's family is from Texas and Guadián is originally from Juárez, Mexico.
“I feel good because I know that my grandchildren love me very much and I love them very much, so that is a very nice memory that they will have,” Guadián said in Spanish. “When I am gone they will have that.”
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The video shared on social media garnered over 66 million views on TikTok. Mier said she never expected her video to receive so much attention.
“I think it’s just with anyone that you absolutely love and you want to keep a part of them forever with you,” Mier said. “It can be your parents, a sibling.”
Thousands of viewers left comments on Mier's TikTok video, expressing how it brought them to tears and some saying it inspired them to do the same thing with their own grandparents.
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“Does anyone know, if I can borrow my grandma from heaven for a bit?” one user commented.
“What a beautiful moment you shared with us,” another said.
The video shows Guadián sitting in a chair and looking down at her arms covered with pink paint as Mier carefully brushed it on.
Guadián stands up as her grandchildren approach her one by one, embracing her in a warm hug.
When they let go, Guadián's arms were painted onto the backs of their sweaters, giving them a memory of their beloved grandma that they can take wherever they go.
Mier, 35, said she got the idea to do this when she came across a video of a woman named Anna Kloots from Los Angeles who made sweaters with her parents’ painted handprints for their 50th anniversary.
Kloots said in her social media post that she had gotten the idea from another person, Jimmi Valdez, who did the same thing with her group of best friends.
When Mier saw Kloots’ video, she knew she wanted to do the same thing with the only grandparent she had left.
After Mier’s video went viral, she made a follow up video to answer questions about what kind of sweaters and paint she used for this idea.
She said she even had people asking if they could purchase a sweater from her with her grandma’s handprints, some even saying they no longer had their grandparents with them and would like a hug from Guadián.
“I don’t know that feeling of not being close to your grandparents because just my family alone, we’re very family oriented,” Mier said. “And for those that have never had that kind of relationship I was like ‘well you know what, my grandma is your grandma.’”
Mier said she and her fiancée then had the idea to make these sweatshirts and sell them online. They are hoping to partner with the Miracle Foundation to donate a portion of their sales to the organization that works with orphanage and foster care systems.
