I wish you all a Happy Mother's Day.
My brothers and I were fortunate to watch our parents honor our grandmother all the days of our life. She was my Dad's mother and lived up the road from us, we visited with her daily, took her dinner, mowed her lawn, never opened a Christmas present until we had picked her up to join us. We could count on her to keep the stray cats we found, nod and smile when we complained about our parents. We played cards and Scrabble with her, watched Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune with her, fed her cat (that one we found that she kept), you get it, Grandma things....
As she grew older, my brothers and I would take turns sleeping at her house to be sure she was safe, my mother made her dinner every night and my father took it to her and sat with her while she ate it. My parent's did everything for her...at the end of her life, my brothers and I were gone to college and work and life and they had to have help, she went in a nursing home, they visited her every single day. She died in 1989. I still miss her.
So on this Mother's Day, I thank my parents for teaching me how we should all honor our mother(or mother-in-law) for all the days of their life. I hope my children will be for me, what my parents were for her. I hope my brothers and I can be for them what they were for her.
I did not write the following letter, but I did get permission from the writer to share it with you...
"My dear child, the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through. If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago”... Just listen, please. Try to remember the times when you were little and I would read the same story night after night until you would fall asleep. When you see how ignorant I am when it comes to new technology, give me the time to learn and don’t look at me that way... remember, honey, I patiently taught you how to do many things like eating appropriately, getting dressed, combing your hair and dealing with life’s issues every day... the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through. If I occasionally lose track of what we are talking about, give me the time to remember, and if I can’t, don’t be nervous, impatient or arrogant. Just know in your heart that the most important thing for me is to be with you. And when my old, tired legs don’t let me move as quickly as before, give me your hand the same way that I offered mine to you when you first walked. When those days come, don’t feel sad... just be with me, and understand me while I get to the end of my life with love. I’ll cherish and thank you for the gift of time and joy we shared. With a big smile and the huge love I’ve always had for you, I just want to say, I love you... my darling child. "
Happy Mother's Day
