This Season of my Life...

My frequent trips back to Murfreesboro, where I grew up, seem to be having a big effect on me these days. Maybe it's because I have so much time in the car to reflect on where I'm going, as well as where I've been. The trip there this week was no exception...

Upon arriving, I joyfully rushed into the house to find that Mother had not been feeling well for a couple of days. We talked a bit then decided it might help to go out for a cup of soup and stop by my sister Judy's for a short visit. As always, Judy rushed to make her delicious "hurry up, company is coming!" apricot cake. We believe that it's a must to feed each other as a sign of caring, in the hope that guests will come back for more. She had already made certain that I had an appointment with my dentist (at her office) while I was in town, and had checked in on me, by phone, during my journey from Atlanta. Anyway, her daughter Abby was there, a fire was burning in the fireplace, and we had a nice (though brief) visit before leaving because Mom just couldn't get comfortable. We said goodnight with a promise to touch bases later.


Mom had a rough night, so the next morning while I was getting caps put on a couple of molars, she made an appointment to see her long-time doctor, now friend. We spent most of the afternoon waiting for him to work us in, then getting prescriptions filled, and going to the grocery store to buy foods that would be easy on her stomach. When we got home, my brother Hugh and his wife, Natali, were curled up on the sofa in the den. Natali put away the groceries, asked what else she could do, then took over putting the chicken on to boil for soup. She also made a pot of coffee for comfort, while I tried to fix Mother something I thought her stomach could handle after a day of fasting. Hugh, on the other hand, was busy fixing all the little things that had broken, or needed doing since the last time he had been there. After all was done, we settled down and chatted around the kitchen table. Natali talked about the Communist days in the Ukraine and how her life has changed since; Hugh related that they installed a fireplace and built a rock chimney together, that their daughter Becca is buying a house, etc. Mom was just grateful that the medicine was working and her dry baked potato wasn't making her sick. It was all so good, the kind of scene a playwright would not have written because it didn't move fast enough. It didn't really strike me how good, until the next morning...

I got up early to go and pick up Mom's longtime housekeeper, now friend, for work. I dropped Lilly off and was leaving again for my sister's to solicit the help of Louis, my brother-in-law, on a Christmas project I was working on, when my other brother-in-law, Aubrey, pulled up in his truck behind me and blew the horn. Big hugs and words of greeting (along with a little teasing) were followed by his report that he was there to put up a security light on the side of the house for Mom. As I left, it struck me how lucky I was that I could leave my mom and know that she would be lovingly taken care of, and how very blessed my mother was to be so loved, by so many.

Louis and I couldn't do what we intended, so he is taking care of it for me sometime in the next few days and delivering the project to Mother's, where Hugh said he would pick up the surprise and bring it to Atlanta at the end of the month. Can you believe that! None of this was planned, they where just helping...

As I drove the beautiful streets of rust, gold and red and smiled at the leaves blowing in the wind, I came to realize that in this season of my life, the autumn of my life, I need them, and they are still there for me. I am a lucky sister and sister-in-law. They are all teaching me about selflessness and I am grateful.

It's a good time of the year for being grateful. Hope your list of blessings this Thanksgiving is as long as mine...oh!...and it's raining (a bit)! A precious relief in this time of drought.

Thanks be to God.

P.S. Thanks also to Terr, for making it possible (and easy) for me to go back and join this crew of siblings. He has had to come home from a long days work and eat many-a-sandwiches so I could be gone. His gifts to me are huge!