Mother’s Day
Happy Mother’s Day to all you beautiful women out there. Whether you have given birth or have rallied around those who have … this day is for you, and you deserve to be treated like the queens that you truly are!
Mother’s Day is tough for a LOT of women, though.
There are women that tried so hard to have children but were unable to do so. There are those that lost precious babies they prayed and begged God for. We don’t know why bad things happen to good people. It’s one of those things we will ask when we get to Heaven’s gates, I suppose. For now, we ask God to heal our broken hearts and meet us right where we are in the midst of our grief.
Mother’s Day is tough on those who have lost their mothers, too. I hope they took the time to acknowledge their mother’s when they were still here on this earth.
Today my parents took me out to celebrate Mother’s Day with me. I am the mother of two beautiful young ladies who are now grown. I am also a mother to an angel in Heaven that I have not seen but loved with my whole heart the moment I found out I was pregnant. Having lost this little one at six weeks was extremely hard, and I know there are other ladies reading this that can relate to what I’m speaking of. One sweet day we will see our precious little ones we never got to hold this side of Heaven.
I’m thankful for my two daughters. They, along with my parents, try to make Mother’s Day special for me, which I greatly appreciate.
Once upon a time when my grandmother and mother-in-law were still on this earth, we had a special Mother’s Day meal at our house for them. It was my privilege to do this for every special occasion they would agree to come to my house to allow me to celebrate them. My mom and dad are still here with us, thank GOD, and I pray they will be for many more years to come. I love them with my whole heart and want so many more years with them. I pray that God allows it.
One particular Mother’s Day, I recall getting my mother, my grandma, and my mother-in-law flowers. I wanted to make sure there was a special flower for each of them. It was important for me to let them know how much they meant to me. Whether I was celebrated or not, it didn’t matter. Oftentimes, the only ones that celebrated me were my parents and my daughters. That was okay. I’m not sure why my grandma or my mother-in-law didn’t think I needed to be celebrated for having their great-grandchildren or grandchildren. Even still, I celebrated them. Now that they are gone, I’m still glad I did this for them.
I’ve been married and divorced, and I recall my first husband saying he didn’t celebrate me because I wasn’t his mother. Yet, I was the mother to his child. But that was okay. I didn’t need him to celebrate me either.
My second husband doesn’t need to celebrate me either because I’m not his mother. It would be nice, though, if the suffering I did to bring these two men’s babies into this world was cause for them to stop for a moment and recognize me for the gifts I have given them and the world.
Yet, it is okay if they don’t celebrate me. The ones who make me feel truly loved and cared for take time to show me … their words and actions truly line up. I don’t just hear the words, “I LOVE YOU!” I FEEL them!
This message is to all the moms that don’t feel celebrated by the ones that say they love you. Take time to celebrate yourself. YOU are WORTHY!
You don’t have to have gifts showered upon you, although that is nice when someone takes the time to give you a gift from their heart.
What I want you to do is take a good look at yourself in the mirror. That woman looking back at you has been through so much in her lifetime. There have been times she has been celebrated, and there have been times when her heart has been broken because she wasn’t acknowledged. Today take time to love yourself.
YOU are important.
YOU are special.
YOU are worthy.
YOU are loved!
YOU are appreciated.
If no one else tells you, I will make sure to do so.
Happy Mother’s Day to every women – even the dog moms deserve to be celebrated for all they do for their fur babies.
Wrap yourself in love today and every day. Celebrate yourself. You deserve it!
Mental Health Month
May is Mental Health Month. It’s when we bring awareness to a topic many shy away from.
I’m here to tell you that dealing with someone who has a mental illness is not for the faint of heart. It takes a LOT of prayers, and it takes a very strong person to NOT let the mental illness of another affect YOU!
I’ve dealt with it for way too long with people in my life. From trying to “save” people in my childhood right on up to my adult life. It will wreak havoc on your life if you are near someone with a mental illness.
They blame you. No matter how much you try to help them. They turn it around to where you are the problem. If you help them seek help, they blame you for causing them to need any help to begin with. Medicine – they don’t want to take it because they don’t think they need it, when in reality THEY DO! It helps them function and it helps those around them be able to BE around them!
They will not let YOU have any feelings you express. NONE. Everything will be turned around to be about them. Everything is about them.
YOU don’t matter. Only them. AND THEY SHOW YOU THIS OVER AND OVER AGAIN! In the things they say and do … it’s glaring you in the face, and yet you don’t want to accept the little they care for you or the little your feelings or YOU matter to them.
I have never been one to want to give up on anyone with a mental illness. I have stayed right by their side and taken the stomach punches and the kicks in the teeth they give.
Mental illness will bring you to your KNEES!
That’s where God meets you.
Charleston Sweatshirt & Memories
My dear friend posted a picture yesterday of a worn grayish sweatshirt displaying Charleston, South Carolina on the front. I took one look at the faded and ripped shirt and the memories flooded my mind. While we cannot pinpoint the exact year, we are speculating that it was around the year 2000 or 2001. In other words, this shirt is well over 20+ years old. With that, so, too, is our friendship!
Having met in the same online forum we wrote about previously during the “Write 28 Days” series, we took our friendship beyond the make-believe walls of the lounge and into the real world. My friend traveled via rail from Arizona to South Carolina just to meet me! While we only had a short weekend together, the time we shared was beyond measure.
It was an absolute honor and privilege to open my home to host her during her visit. We shared so many great and wonderful things together that weekend, and quiet time at home was extra special having her with me. She was my first house guest, and I could not believe she was really there! Live and in person, there she stood in my doorway smiling at me.
We ventured out for a little sightseeing in one of the most beautiful cities – Charleston! We walked the cobblestone streets during a ghost tour which was lead by a great storyteller dressed in period clothing carrying a lantern. This was one of the highlights of her trip along with seeing the horse-drawn carriages at The Battery in downtown Charleston. The evening grew colder as the tour went on, thus prompting the purchase of this sweatshirt at the downtown market area. Alas, no evening in Charleston is complete without fine dining on fresh seafood! As we exchanged stories of our own and sampled the best seafood Charleston had to offer, the bond between us grew stronger. Memories were made that will last a lifetime, as I’m sure our friendship will as well.
Twenty-plus years of friendship, and in those 20+ years we have shared the good, the bad, and the ugly life threw at us both. My friend is a great conqueror, though. When mental illness thought it had a grip on her, she fought the stigma associated with it and made a great life for herself and her son. She raised him as a single parent, which is no easy task! She was both mother and father, and while she beats herself up over different periods with him growing up, I know she did the absolute best she could for him! Just when things were looking up, my friend was facing gamma knife surgery due to a brain tumor. Thankfully, it was NOT cancerous, but the procedure was frightening in and of itself. The tumor was wrapped around her optic nerve, if memory serves me correctly. This warrior woman came out of the surgery fighting like a mad woman to reclaim her life.
And she did!
I’ll fast forward through other things in her life she has conquered and focus on the gentleman who completely blindsided her and then swept her off of her feet! When she first showed me his picture, I could not believe how much he resembled Willie Nelson! It’s funny thinking back on this now, but my heart was completely thrilled and delighted for my friend to have found love again. She has smiled more than I have EVER seen her smile, and her heart is truly happy now! She and this gentleman moved from Arizona to Missouri! They found a little piece of Heaven in each other and in a little home on the range! Now my friend’s days are spent harvesting from her garden and canning! She has chickens and seems giddy as a schoolgirl over Hummingbirds that visit her feeders during the spring, and she seems ecstatic over snow flurries during the winter months. She seems to absolutely love her ranch life now, affectionately referring to their new home as Leaning Cedar Ranch.
Ah, my dear, sweet, beautiful, strong-willed friend, it has been so incredible for me to watch ALL of your dreams come true. A lump forms in my throat and tears sting my eyes as I write these words. I remember the struggles, and I’m so thankful to have been on the sidelines of your life ALL of these years cheering you on. And now, oh sweet victory, how GOD has shown His love, grace, mercy, and favor in your life. I’m so proud of you and proud to be by your side even still all these years later.
