Magnolia Son would like to wish MaMa Louise a wonderful day for her 102nd birthday!! She has touched so many lives with her generosity, wisdom, strength and support that it would be impossible to name each individual because we cannot fathom the ripple effect her life has had on others. But one young man who really loved her and cherished his time with her was Christian. He would always visit her at least once while he was home between hitches. It had become a tradition over the past few years that periodically he would buy her the craziest looking fuzzy socks he could find and my dignified typically “everything must match grandmother” would wear those crazy wild socks with whatever she had on. She would laugh and stick her feet out and say “Look at what Christian brought me. I don’t know where he finds these wild socks!”
Christian had not been home the past three birthdays but he would call me the day before and make sure I had ordered “something good – not something cheap” for her. Of course he would tell me he would pay me back for this “good – not cheap” present but I don’t think I ever saw that happen. 🙂 I remember riding somewhere with Christian and we were talking about Mama and how unique an experience to have lived to remember so many historical events and revolutions in technology. Mama had recently given Christian a history lesson by reminiscing about her childhood. Christian said “I can’t imagine riding to church in a horse and buggy, having ice delivered to your house once a week, having a real milk man, remembering four wars but driving like a maniac in a car doing 70 mph with one hand on the steering wheel and the other one holding a Dr. Pepper. And doing all of that in one life.”
While Christian was amazed and somewhat envious of Mama’s time travel like experiences, I was amazed and envious of her unbreakable faith in God and his grace. The first thing she said to me when she was told about Christian’s death in a calm and unwavering voice “At least God graced us with 21 wonderful years with him. He gave us such great memories.”…. Oh, to have that level of faith to see the positive in a situation where I could find nothing that was good.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18
Beautiful words!
Beautifully expressed, Rae.