Saturday, October 30, 2004
SPRING IN MISSOURI....1982
We went back to Nebraska on the 12th of March. We had the clock in our favor and arrived before suppertime. We caught up on all the news and mom asked a lot of questions about “home” and what was going on there. With each visit now I could see a stirring in her to come back to Missouri. Being with aunt Mary in the house they grew up in was her security for these past months but I knew she was getting well when she talked of going home.
Mom and aunt Mary had always been very close. They were direct opposites, in nature, but each respected the other’s abilities. Aunt Mary went to college and had a long career teaching school while mom married and had my brother and I. Mom, on the other hand, never wanted to go on to higher education; she was content to be a wife and mother. I cannot tell you how much she taught us with her ability to accept things as they came along and “make do” with all that might entail.
Neither would have been happy to fill the other’s shoes. Mom had the patience of Job and while aunt Mary was a teacher of children, she didn’t have the temperament to spend the mundane hours raising the same two children. God in His wisdom knows just how to measure all that out. Each was happy with her life and mom was learning all over again just what her life was. Her therapist did a wonderful job of recuperation progress.
It was always hard to leave mom but she still had a little ways to go before she was ready for release from her doctor. We said our good-byes on Monday morning and made our way back to Willow Springs. I am always struck with the difference as we drive south the 500-miles between home and Nebraska. We left bare trees and brown lawns but arriving home we were greeted with buds and blooms that danced along the hillsides and spilled into the countryside. South Missouri in the Spring is something to behold.
John and a friend named Gibbs came on March 22nd and stayed a few days with us. John rented a U-Haul trailer to take his stereo and TV back to New Orleans. I washed his clothes up to take back and fed them good while they were here…..those TLC things that mom’s do when their sons show up from college. I would imagine John and Barbara are doing the same things for L.J. now that he is away at college.
April 2nd we made our next trip to Blair and I made several dishes of food I thought would be a change from their usual fare. I made a chicken casserole and took a peach cobbler and a cake. It was appreciated and gave aunt Mary a break, although mom was able to cook now and help aunt Mary out. She had a foot operated on and it was causing her a great deal of trouble. It was nice they could “be there” for each other.
Uncle Roger called to tell us our new car was in that we ordered from him so on the 26th of April we drove to Blair to get it and to bring mom home at last. She was all packed and ready. We stayed the week-end and left on Monday as was our custom. This time aunt Mary would be alone and mom would be coming back to her own little place. She enjoyed the ride and feasted her eyes on the familiar road that led back home. She had recovered from a near fatal stroke, heart attack and physical loss of her left arm and leg. She was not only coming home but her mind, and body and heart were well once more.
Spring is a time of renewal….and sometimes we experience a “spring kind” of fresh awareness of just how wonderful life really is…..and how precious …..as well as fragile. It is a time to celebrate life in every form and to respond to the constancy of seasons….“If winter (and sickness) comes….can spring be far behind?” Mom was home again……..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Mom and aunt Mary had always been very close. They were direct opposites, in nature, but each respected the other’s abilities. Aunt Mary went to college and had a long career teaching school while mom married and had my brother and I. Mom, on the other hand, never wanted to go on to higher education; she was content to be a wife and mother. I cannot tell you how much she taught us with her ability to accept things as they came along and “make do” with all that might entail.
Neither would have been happy to fill the other’s shoes. Mom had the patience of Job and while aunt Mary was a teacher of children, she didn’t have the temperament to spend the mundane hours raising the same two children. God in His wisdom knows just how to measure all that out. Each was happy with her life and mom was learning all over again just what her life was. Her therapist did a wonderful job of recuperation progress.
It was always hard to leave mom but she still had a little ways to go before she was ready for release from her doctor. We said our good-byes on Monday morning and made our way back to Willow Springs. I am always struck with the difference as we drive south the 500-miles between home and Nebraska. We left bare trees and brown lawns but arriving home we were greeted with buds and blooms that danced along the hillsides and spilled into the countryside. South Missouri in the Spring is something to behold.
John and a friend named Gibbs came on March 22nd and stayed a few days with us. John rented a U-Haul trailer to take his stereo and TV back to New Orleans. I washed his clothes up to take back and fed them good while they were here…..those TLC things that mom’s do when their sons show up from college. I would imagine John and Barbara are doing the same things for L.J. now that he is away at college.
April 2nd we made our next trip to Blair and I made several dishes of food I thought would be a change from their usual fare. I made a chicken casserole and took a peach cobbler and a cake. It was appreciated and gave aunt Mary a break, although mom was able to cook now and help aunt Mary out. She had a foot operated on and it was causing her a great deal of trouble. It was nice they could “be there” for each other.
Uncle Roger called to tell us our new car was in that we ordered from him so on the 26th of April we drove to Blair to get it and to bring mom home at last. She was all packed and ready. We stayed the week-end and left on Monday as was our custom. This time aunt Mary would be alone and mom would be coming back to her own little place. She enjoyed the ride and feasted her eyes on the familiar road that led back home. She had recovered from a near fatal stroke, heart attack and physical loss of her left arm and leg. She was not only coming home but her mind, and body and heart were well once more.
Spring is a time of renewal….and sometimes we experience a “spring kind” of fresh awareness of just how wonderful life really is…..and how precious …..as well as fragile. It is a time to celebrate life in every form and to respond to the constancy of seasons….“If winter (and sickness) comes….can spring be far behind?” Mom was home again……..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
