By Rosie Preston
Just this past week, my daughter Rachel saved me from a problem I’ve been dealing with for quite some time, which was getting my house cleaned out of unneeded furniture and unnecessary stuff that I keep in four storage buildings.
Rachel said that we could rent a 10×20 storage building and put tape down the middle so she can sell from one side and me on the other. I’ve woken up so many mornings with a feeling of doom as I prepare to purge this home, and Rachel has made her mother happier than she could understand.
Over the past few years, I’ve lost three dear friends – Brenda White Vaughn in 2021, Donna Johnson in 2022 and Kay Robinson McClendon in May 2023. The sad part is that I didn’t know they had passed until after their funerals. I brought to mind when my daddy got to this age and said that it was as if he recognized a friend who had passed away, and I attended many funerals with him. At any rate, my new morning focus is to begin reading the local obituaries online.
When I think about Mother’s Day being this weekend, I pray for blessings to touch my family and friends who have lost a loved one. Some of my friends and relatives lost a child at an early age.
I thank God that I’ve made it to this age. Being a driver’s-license-carrying senior citizen is something I never thought about when I was a younger version of myself while rode bikes, played softball and tennis and possessed the energy to stay up late. It’s not easy getting older but I pray for my health and yours on this special Sunday of Mother’s Day. Hopefully you’ve learned to appreciate every morning when you have another day to love, hug and smile with everyone you love!
My family experiences the normal ups and downs of life. I thank God for every day they are able to get up and step forward into the day and know that God loves them, as does our entire family. No matter how much grief we must bear, we are never alone. I just saw a television show where someone said, “If you can get free in your mind, you can be free in prison.” We all have some sort of prison, often emotional or physical ones.
Phil recently asked what I wanted for Mother’s Day. I usually can’t think of anything I would want, but this year I I wanted to order an Apple Mini-Mac computer. My current computer sometimes makes me wait forever to accomplish a task.
“That’s wonderful,” Phil replied. “Order it today!”
Phil is a good man to put up with me, as well as my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It keeps his life keeps us busy. I never thought time would pass so quickly and that I would be taking care of young children once again, but the joy they bring is unbelievable! Our latest great-grandbabies is two-week-old David Samuel Rigsby and seven-month old Cecil Keaton Spurling. Their parents assume I am crazy because I’m laughing and filled with joy when I visit. I’m like the Scooby Doo Dog who is all over the place as I try to wait patiently until I can get one of the babies in my arms!
It was years ago when I criticized grandmothers who wore their grandchildren’s pictures in their pockets and/or carried signs and flags with their grandchildren’s photos on them. In fact, many times, I hid from view when I saw a grandmother coming and I had already seen her photos! I was constantly looking at these precious little babies and saying, “Oh, he/she is adorable!”
Nowadays, we have the option to say that our phone is vibrating and that we must answer it immediately in order that we can step away!
I’m currently smiling to myself because I have become that grandmother!
Keep smiling, Rosie Preston.
Contact Rosie at rosie.preston@yahoo.com.