Day 6
Homemade
dresses. Christmas quilts and baby quilts.
Mom :Never sew
with Bobi, it’ll drive you crazy!”
Oh!
That Nanny! She could do---literally…everything!
Each
Christmas season she applied her seamstress skills and creativity to holiday
dresses for her girls and herself; fantastic creations to celebrate the season,
a new design each year.
A
“perfectionist” by personality, she exacted material, patterns, thread and
sewing perfectly.
Teaching
her girls to sew, she carefully laid out the pattern on the neatly folded
material, then cut each piece precisely. Daughter Beth followed along in
meeting the high expectations.
Daughter
Becky? Well! More like her old man, I reckon. Fly by the seat of her pants!
She
would flop out the fancy material, “fold” it (sort of), slap on the thin-paper
pattern and whip out the old scissors and chop away. Voila! Sew it up; put it
on; enjoy---and…shut up.
Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder! Creativity7 knows “no” bounds---or…prescription!
I
guess, reluctantly: somebody has to be the “adult”? (I never achieved that high mark!)
My
guardian angel saved my bacon on many occasions. Like the 4th of
July when I “bottle-rocketed” not only Old Glory (by accident) but put burn
holes in the girls night gowns. Nothing serious! They should put “warning”
labels on dangerous things like fireworks; at the very least: Adult supervision
required. Well! Gee! Always out for a “good” time! I reckon! Oh! Well! Those
topics are tales for another day…
I reckon that’s true enough! In the end---it all
makes…Cookie Jar Sweet Memories! Amen!
Plus:
Christian Charity---practiced,
and…personified!
Some
five decades plus several years ago, I sat as an eighth grader in a Catholic
school with two grades crowded into a single room, seventh and eighth grades
together, under the tutelage of a nun juggling some-fifty students’ education
in a seesaw curriculum bouncing from one grade to the other; some disciplines
combined, like religious instruction, geography and other studies; in these
endeavors the good sister taught both grades simultaneously. My mind, as usual,
wandered.
It
was late in the school day, 3:15 pm; only fifteen minutes until final
dismissal. Another day!
“Spelling”
class got the last quarter hour of the school day. Good news! Indeed!
My
derelict mind suddenly focused on the nun’s words which were not about
spelling; I do not remember how the conversation had turned to the subject on
which she spoke. I awoke/
“Our
town and community has been ‘blessed’ in that we have not suffered a traffic
death, here.” As my inattentive mind gleaned the meaning of the sister’s words,
I became focused.
Where
had that statement come from? I do not recall any “visitor” to our room. Hmmm!
After
class was dismissed, sometime after “supper”, mom and dad discussed the
“tragedy”.
A
horrific accident involving a car and tractor trailer truck colliding had resulted
in a fatality.
Wow!
Just what our teacher had been talking about during spelling class! Had she
known?
The
accident had occurred around three in the afternoon; I believe spring was the
season.
In
a small community of less than three thousand in population, such tragedy
struck hard.
What
I did not know at the time was that a young girl and boy had lost their mother;
the daughter was twelve and her sibling a bit younger. A few years later, I
learned more.
The
children’s father had suffered inexplicable tragedy, as had the sister and
brother. Some six years later I learned from my girlfriend, who was a close
friend of the girl, that the distraught dad had delegated the responsibilities
of the deceased mother’s role, as far as running the household, to the hapless
daughter; he just expected the girl to fill the void. And, she did so!
After
high school, the girl took a trip to Yellowstone and found refuge and “peace”
in Oregon.
There,
she took up residence in Portland; years later our family visited her there.
Recently,
the girl moved back to our little town, now boasting over ten thousand
citizens.
Our
friend is highly intelligent, quick of wit with a pleasant girlish giggle and
an easy, affable laugh. I have never
heard her utter any untoward verbiage
about anyone---ever! Always smiling,
forever pleasant in deliverance. Still, a quiet, deep, suppressed “sadness” permeated her being.
Never
mentioning “the accident” nor complaining for over half a century, she suddenly
allowed that she had met with the driver of the vehicle in which her mother had
been the “victim”. The girl and the daughter of the driver had been good
friends after the incident and our friend had set up a mutual-agreement meeting
with the driver which the daughter attended.
They
met at the lady’s home and chatted affably for a considerable time. In the end,
they held hands, the now elderly lady profusely apologizing and remorseful; the
“girl” heartfelt in charitable Christian forgiveness. Her conclusion explained
to us: It was just a horrible accident!
You
bravely offered her an honest chance for self-“forgiveness”, reconciliation
and---finally…Redemption! While you
were satiated, the lady found---long sought…Salvation!
Wow! Thank you! My
dear friend, Miss Marlene! Many consider themselves “saintly”, even purporting
“angelic” aspirations, but, you, my
dear, exemplify by display the Christian mandate: Love! You can mentor a simple “sinner” like Humble-I---any
time…with pure Christian generosity! Charity begins at home---generosity is Love…you practice it: Perfectly!
Amen!
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