Sunday, July 19, 2009

Happy Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Sis turning 50. She, as most of us thought, did not think she would make it to 50 with her health issues. I've written about it somewhere but can't seem to find the post but she has had two open heart surgeries about 10 years ago, back to back, about 3 months after the birth of her miracle son (her tubes were tied.) This is just a short synopsis of her health history from her entire life of issues. Anyway, her hubby was good at getting everyone together and surprise her for her birthday last night. I was glad because I didn't have to do it. As I've said here before, this year is the year of ME....MWAAAAA! I'm not taking on any responsibility unless I just have too. Besides he needed to do it for "them". It was a success and even our Daddy showed up and his sisters and our cousins to join in the fun. I was only responsible for a slide show that I worked on this week. That was actually fun. In fact, yesterday while tweeking the whole thing I ran across a letter that our mother wrote to her mother and I was amazed. It was actually a nice letter and a kind of thank you to her mother (parents). That was a shock as there was a lot of anger there towards her mother (Granny). We had just moved to Arkansas, away from the families and away from the help and aid they gave. They were on their own, making their way with three small children. It was a big step for them and I could see it in the rest of the letter. Unfortunately, we only stayed for a year as our father became ill and had to have surgery. We were kind of forced back into the protective arms of the families again. I hope you can read this excerpt from that letter. I did a little research and found it was from the book "The Prophet" by Khalil Gibran. My mother, even back then was an amazing insightful, very brilliant woman. This writing is basically how she wanted we three to be raised. It is the basis of everything she taught us and how I have taught my children. Amazing to find this and really see where she had her beliefs and knowledge. I hope you can read it because the last part is what hit me as a departure for her towards her mother...well here, "I hope you understand what I mean by this--in other words, thanks for being such stable bows, for without your guidance this arrow would never have made it."

3 comments:

Char said...

Happy Birthday to your sister! July babies are great! :)

glad you had a good time.

Kay said...

Please send our birthday wishes to your gallant sister. She's had a tough time of it. How lucky she is to have such a loving family.

Anonymous said...

that pic makes me happy....

that passage is a VERY popular passage in the UU church. In fact, I've sung some songs with that same text.

Very insightful...