Bountiful Blessings
May 10, 2015
Hello my beautiful friends and Happy Mother’s Day. Yes, it
has been quite some time since I wrote one of these. Not sure if I ever
intended to start writing them again. But as most of you know, my beautiful and
wonderful mother went to see the Lord last Sunday. Oh, how my heart is breaking
inside as I outwardly rejoice in her homecoming. Well, I was looking through
some of her things and came across this big, fat binder. When I opened it up, I
cried. She had saved each and every one of my Bountiful Blessings from the past
few years. I told you that she was wonderful, didn’t I? So, Mom, this one is my
Mother’s Day gift to you. I love you.
I always knew that I had one of those special moms. All the
kids liked to come to our house. Sometimes when someone was sleeping over, I
would wake up in the middle in the night to find them sitting with my mom in
the kitchen talking. I never asked about what. I figured that they needed to
speak to her not me. She picked people by who they were, not what they had or
what they were. It was their heart that made her decision. She would scold me
when I whined about what other kids thought about me. She said to focus on what
was important, that “silliness” would pass and if it didn’t, so what, I didn’t
need them anyway. Of course, as a child or a teenager, I thought she didn’t
understand what I was going through. J
Mom was always there to lend a hand to anyone and everyone. Sometimes it drove
us all crazy. We had this guy in the neighborhood who walked around drunk as a
skunk all day long. Every few weeks, Mom would bring him home, feed him, let
him take a shower and then give him some of Dad’s clothes. He would be right
back out there the next day but she told me that you do your part. Its not up
to you what he does with it. A young lady told me the other day that Mom made
sure that she was taken care of at school. Something happened to her father and
there was little money. Mom went to the office at school and made sure that she
had lunches for the rest of the school year. Little things. Things you didn’t
talk about but things that made a difference to someone. Another friend called
me late the other night crying and talking about Mom. She said that when she
had family problems and felt unwanted and unloved, Mom hugged her while she
cried telling her that she was loved and always made sure that she had food to
eat. That was my Mom.
She was funny. Telling stories of her childhood between her
and 7 brothers and sisters. Stories of her nieces and nephews and the trouble
they got into. And always, always stories of Summer and Chad. You could not be
around her long before you heard about her grandkids. They were her pride and
joy.
Mom spent many years driving the school bus. The kids on her
bus were her “other” kids. We still ran into them places. They would always
yell Ms Tucker and come running for a hug. She knew each by name despite the
many years and age on their faces. One of their favorite memories was her
driving the school bus over this little hill at well, not the safest speed. The
kids would come up off their seats, squealing and yelling. They loved it. I am
pretty sure the school and the parents would not have but it was a different
time and she would not have done anything to jeopardize her kids. Mom spent
many years at Rountrees/Miss Myras. They were like a second family to her.
Workers and customers alike. She would fuss at them and then tell me how much
they meant to her. I would sit and watch her at the counter; sometimes with a
little flirt for a young man and sometimes with a little sass (ok, a lot of
sass) for an older man. I would cringe and then - bam! They would shoot it
right back at her. When they left, I would ask her if she knew them and she
would calmly say no. She said that you have to learn how to read people to
determine who you could play around with. She also told me that people
shouldn’t take life so seriously. Have a little fun.
Have a little fun. Treat people, all people, with respect.
Give of yourself. Do for others. Love, love, love. Its whats inside that
counts. All clichés that we have heard all our lives. Cliches that my mom tried
to live by. Her legacy to her family was to appreciate life - the love, the
friendship, the ordinary.
The doctors gave her, and us, a gift. They told her that her
time was drawing near. My mother, once again, shared her life with everyone. We
called in as many people as we could to come by the hospital. People paraded
through her room on that Saturday and Sunday. She talked, she laughed and she
loved. She told us where she was going and that she was ready and excited for
the next chapter in her life. She told us that she was already looking forward
to being reunited with her parents and her sister. Her only regret was leaving
us but it was ok because she would see us again. After the last person left,
mom fell gently asleep and only woke for a short time on Monday when my dad
came in to show her he shaved his moustache and goatee off (she hated it for
the last ten years). It was his final gift to her. She woke up, looked
completely shocked, and told him how handsome he was. It was her last
conversation. She went back to sleep and slept for the next week until she
passed peacefully without pain. It was so very hard. Not going to lie. But I cannot
imagine Mom planning it any better if she had done it herself. God knows. He
always knows.
For those of you who didn’t know my mom, this was a very
lengthy (and probably boring) tribute to her. But please take this from it
today. Live your life without regret. Do what you can to make your small
section of the world a better place. Tell your family that you love them -
never wait. Don’t leave an argument unfinished. Don’t judge by appearances.
Give to others. And love. Your friends, your family and most certainly, God.
When you leave this life (and we all do), leave it as a life well lived and
well loved and take comfort in the knowledge that we will be reunited in our
Heavenly home.
Bible verse for the week:
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he
will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6
Picture for the week:
Bible fun for the week: (in honor of my mothers love of
frogs and word searches!)
What do you get when you cross a pig and a frog? A
ham-phibian
What happens if a frog parks at a bus stop? He
gets toad away
What happens when two frogs catch the same fly? They
get tongue-tied
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