A few minutes ago my phone rang.
It was Holly, a young woman I have great admiration for. She and her husband are parents to two very lively young boys, and they are all super people.
Holly told me about Mrs. K, a teacher at the school she attended (the same school my family has attended for several generations). Mrs. K had been very important to Holly, and a few years ago Holly had the chance to sit down with Mrs. K and tell her what an inspiration she had been.
This week Mrs. K had a stroke, a big one and is not expected to live through the weekend. Her husband, the music teacher at the same school, died of Parkinson's a few years ago. She had been living with a son and his family up in Washington State.
But the real reason Holly called, she told me, was that she suddenly realized that she needed to call several people and tell them how important they had been in her life. She told me that I had been that inspiration to her and how much she appreciated our friendship.
I am not always as happy as I look. My life and my family are not always doing the best, or my friends either. I grieve for them and I grieve for me as well. Life is not an easy road. Holly can see all of that. And she is full of empathy.
Holly says she loves to see me smile, even when she knows it is an act, that inside she knows I am crying. She is very perceptive.
Thank you Holly.
The men that I apprenticed to years ago are long gone. I was very close to one of them and visited him often until he died, way too young. The other one I never did get to say good bye to, and now he is gone.
My list is full of people that I should have talked to and did not and now I cannot. They needed to know they were appreciated.
But right now I can tell Holly and Stef and David and Bill and Pastor John and David W what a inspiration they are to me. Arline and Lora and Dea and Lia my daughters and Jessica and Emily and Brianna and Amy my granddaughters. Sid and Cliff and Curtis my sons in law. I love each of you.
And I need to remind some others of how important they are to my life.
Again, thank you Holly.
Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!
11 years ago
4 comments:
How wonderful of Holly to do that. That's a lesson we should all learn. We never know what tomorrow holds and should tell those we care about what they mean to us while we still can.
i love you grandpa face. and i want you to know that you are very important to me. and i too love to see you smile. i know that sometimes its forced, but it is meant with love for me and everyone you smile at. thank you.
Thank you Dave for being here for me when I need you. You are a true blessing to all of us.
Dave, my dad always told me the exact same thing. Never let a moment go by to tell someone how you feel about them. I started exercising that bit of advice and to see the smiles of the people I shared my feelings with was worth more than words could say. What a beautiful gift to give someone than to tell them how much they are loved and what they have meant to us in our lives. Something to cherish forever.
Dave, your love for Miriam makes me truly believe there is a love that will sustain all of life's trials. You are a wonderful husband with a good kind heart. God bless you.
Post a Comment