~upon remembering our mothers~

"I can still remember the sound of my mother's voice even though it has been nearly seven years now that I heard it for the last time.  From her death bed there in the nursing home, in a voice clear and very lucid, she told me that I was a good girl and then there was no more.  I used to cry at the thought of remembering her final words to me but I no longer do that.  Those words were her parting gift to me, her way of saying how much she loved me.  When I think of her dying sentiments to the sixth child of seven that she had given birth to, I smile and rejoice that she was my mother for all of the years of my life."

A great deal of life these days for me is notated on planners scattered between here at home and my fourth-grade classroom.  I've got sticky notes all over the place as reminders of what I need to do between now and the end of school in just a couple of weeks.  The "18" get a chuckle out of the "reminders" I leave to myself and sometimes when they ask me what one of them means, I have to stop and think myself.  Sometimes in my "cryptic" manner of writing them, I do such a good job that even I cannot figure them out a day or so later.  It took me a second or two the other day to recall that "I.C.B. Thursday" really meant that I wanted Mike to pick up ice cream bars for me to give to the kids on Thursday after we had finished all of the testing we were doing.  With all of the sticky notes that I have gone through this year, I have begun to wish that it was me instead of Arthur Fry who accidently invented the famous and most useful "post it note".  Alas, that was just NOT in my part of the "plan".  God had better things than that in mind for me.

The calendar on the refrigerator here at home is filled with important dates of things that will be happening for both Mike and I in the days that remain in May.  Three trips back to Kansas, the last day of school, our first wedding anniversary, pay days, a garage sale, graduations and a thousand other seemingly important things are circled and noted with the words "DON'T FORGET!"  If your house is like ours has turned out to be, the month of May will be filled with a multitude of things yet to accomplish.  If so, take heart in the fact that we will make it through the month.  You are most certainly not even close to being alone.

In just five days more, we will all be celebrating a very time honored tradition  that finds itself upon the pages of our lives the second Sunday of each fifth month.  May 11th is set aside this year as the day to honor our mothers, the official "Mother's Day" on the calendar for 2014.  The stores have been filled for weeks now with cards and other gifts to give the special women in our lives who gave birth to us, nurtured us, helped to raise us up and long after we are grown and on our own, continue to play a pivotal role in our lives.  All weekend long, florists across the country will be delivering roses and plants to the front doors of many blessed women.  We all choose our own way of celebrating with our moms and hopefully the celebration is shown on more days than just the traditional one each year.  If you are still blessed enough to have a mother this year, then give thanks because you are most blessed.

My mother passed away in 2007, just two weeks after celebrating her 87th birthday.  It's been 7 "Mother's Days" that have gone by since then and no longer do I buy her a card or call her up on the phone from wherever I may be.  Enough time has gone by that I don't even remember now what I did to celebrate her special day back in May of 2007.  That makes me sad in a way but she would have understood.  Life goes on.  I have always loved the quote that I heard once long ago that said~

"You do not honor the dead by dying with them."

Even now, though I am officially an "orphan", I still remember Lois Scott and the great impact she had on my life.  I became the woman that I am today in huge part because of her example to me.  She taught me many things in my growing up years and imparted much needed advice to me long after I had grown up, gotten married, and had children of my own.  She was actually pretty good at listening and now that I think about that these many years later, sometimes it was just the fact that she LISTENED to me that made all of the difference.  I'm so thankful that she lived long enough to see me have children of my own and to witness their growing up years before she passed away.  I'm sorry that she never met the little girl who shares her name, my granddaughter Catherine Lois.  She would have been happy for me to know that I too had become a grandmother. The years went on after her death and the plan for life continued in her absence.  That's the way she would have wished for it to be.  I miss her.  I love her still.  

I'll be stopping over to the cemetery in Halstead, Kansas when I return to my home state at the end of the month.  That's where I will find not only my mother but my father as well.  Other family members are buried close by them which is kind of nice in its own way.  It will be Decoration Day weekend and I'll be taking over flowers for my parents as well as the others.  I guess it will be a combination visit of "Mother's Day", "Father's Day", and "Memorial Day" all three rolled up into one.  It will be nice to stop and pause for a moment and carry on the family tradition that my mom taught me, to adorn the graves of our loved ones gone on before us.  I have had some great conversations at their gravesites over the years with many tears being shed from time to time.  In my own heart, as I pour out my thoughts and concerns with them, I still feel they are listening to me today.  It's like their return gift to me, their little girl named Peggy Ann.  I take a lot of solace in that fact and perhaps you have had the same experience with your own family members that have gone on ahead of you.  I feel at peace there sitting down by their final spots of rest.  A real gift.

I think I may have just gotten a message from my mother and the message is this~

"Peggy Ann Scott you need to get yourself off of the computer and ready for school.  You are going to be late young lady!"

OK, OK Mom...I'M GOING :)
 
Mom, I love you and I will never forgot you.  I will always remember you.  See you there in Heaven some day.  Wait for me because when my time comes,  I'll be there too. Happy Mother's Day to you.

So glad that they didn't stop with child #5....they created me as child #6.  My little sister Cindy was only the "twinkle in our daddy's eyes" that day but two years later, she joined the Scott Family as the baby.  

She loved purple and if you looked into her closets, that's the color you would always seem to find.  She was a wonderful mother and grandmother.  I was taught the value of hard work by my mom and it was a gift that I was always grateful for, especially during the times when my life wasn't as easy as I wished it could have been.

My first year as a teacher.  I'm so glad that both my mom and my dad were here to see that happen.  They encouraged me all the while to get my education and to make a difference in the lives of the children that I was destined to meet.