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| Mom's retirement party - and 4 of her soon-to-be 17 reasons for retirement |
Just ask Trey's wife, Amy.
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| James Girls weekend last fall |
- She can design and grow amazing gardens
- explain the rules to little league umpires
- reupholster a sofa and create a slipcover for a loveseat - all from scrap fabric
- provide award-winning trashy Christmas costumes
- keep both their lake property (with several acres) and her home lawn (over an acre) mowed
- imagine and sew intricate school and Halloween costumes when strapped for both time and money - for her own kids and her grandkids (praise God) - we still have friends raiding our costume closet each October
- volunteer to teach Tanglewood science lab with me - and actually enjoy it
- write and direct Easter plays AND set design, complete with a rocky tomb and soldier swords and a feathery angel
- she shows up to baseball and volleyball tournaments having already read the tournament rules and checked out the brackets
...and the woman can BOWL. She and Mama took Basden and Essie bowling recently, and they were all flabbergasted with her BOWLING SKILLS. Evidently Mom took a bowling class in college.
I'm telling you, she's a grandma who can do anything.
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| homemade donuts - complete with decorated paper bags for shaking in powder sugar |
Besides all the things she's good at, she's got some wisdom.
A few things I've learned from my mom:
- You don’t have to have everything perfectly planned and scheduled to host 25 people for the week, sometimes over-planning backfires and makes everybody crazy
- When searching for a baseball field upon arriving at an unfamiliar athletic campus - look for the lights
- Every child needs to learn delayed gratification
- Borrowing money is to be avoided at all costs
- Invest money and time into landscaping / gardening your back yard more than the front - who cares about impressing neighbors, enjoy the private space your family gets to relax in
- Reproofs are more effective when few and further between. One morning when I was in the 7th grade she told me my eyeliner too dark. I didn't do it again
- You'd be a fool not to pick up a penny in the parkinglot
- Don't let worry steal an ounce of your time and energy
- It builds character (and saves $$) to wear the Fox shirt instead of the Izod
- But sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes you need the Izod. To her credit, Mom knew when to buckle and let me buy a pair of Guess Jeans. My middle school insecurities warranted a designer tag, but even then she allowed me to buy them used and with my own money
- A movie is only worth watching with a tub of buttery popcorn
- Always keep learning. Mom recently mentioned that the oldest tree in Texas is just minutes from her house. I asked how she knew that and turns out she subscribes to a monthly Texas newsletter, from which she saves clippings and further researches the articles
- Let things go and keep the big picture in mind. As teenagers instead of nagging us to keep tidy rooms, she just closed our bedroom doors
- Don't be afraid of hard work
- Hospitality, when casual and relaxed, is more restful for everyone
- Be the first to take the broken piece of candy.
Happy 70th Mom, the most amazing Silver Sneaker Superwoman. You're a gem, and your worth is far more than rubies.
You have no need to keep up with Joneses, you have a strong and sturdy heart. Any ministry to college and high school students that Corbin and I have gotten to be a part over the last 20 years
has been backed up by your and dad's ministry to us - babysitting, making yourselves available at any moment, and of course all that money we saved on babysitters and drivers!
You are resourceful, you're not even slightly impressed with others’ material wealth, you're turned off by carnal living.
In the words of King Lemuel:
Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised.
A few years ago our family gathered in Somerset, Texas. Trey, Chris and Luke were there with their families, and we spent some time walking through Granny and Pappy's ranch and barn, Cappy telling stories with all the grandkids running about, most of them experiencing their South Texas heritage for the first time. At one point our conversation turned to death and funerals and my dad stated that he wanted to be cremated, his ashes scattered from the sky over some meaningful landmarks. Mom piped in, "Yeah, I want to be cremated too. But instead of scattering my ashes, just take me in an urn from stands to stands."
Mom, so grateful you are WITH US in the stands, NOT in an urn (!), and cheering all of us on in your unique way. We love you and are so very grateful for you!
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| one of my fav pics of mom - on the ULL t-ball field watching Essie's baseball team, but peering through a hole in the fence watching Bran on the major field |
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| Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night will keep them home |
