It Is So Worth It!!!

Happy belated Mother's Day out there to all the parents out there serving as both mother and father because of incarceration.  Looking back on all the entries, I questioned the enormity of the whole situation and if I could make it through, keeping everyone together and healthy.  (I mean healthy both in the physical sense as well as the mental).  Well, this past Mother's Day I had yet another sign that I have succeeded where I was scared I would fail.

It started early Saturday morning with an early knock on the front door.  (To this day, I hate opening my door to strangers who knock when I am not expecting any one.)  I went down and opened the door to an elderly gentleman holding a beautiful vase of flowers.  He handed me the flowers and wished my a Happy Mother's Day and off he went to brighten some other mother's day.  Reading the card, they were from my wonderful son who was away at college.  They were the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen.  I don't know if it was the colors, the arrangement, the flowers, or maybe it was just the sentiment that they came with them that brought tears to my eyes.

The florist had goofed up the message and did not even get my son's name correct, but that made them seem so much more special.  The photo shows how they looked immediately after I received them, but they are still on the table as of this morning.  They are just now reaching the end of their life, but they were beautiful and lasted such a long time.  And of course I did take some photos that I will be able to look back on for many years. 

Then Sunday morning as we were all getting ready for church, my daughter came into my room and handed me a legal size envelope with "Mom" written on it with hearts drawn on it.  As she left the room, I opened the envelope and started reading.  Immediately her words brought tears to my eyes.  It was a typed, single spaced, two page letter that proceeded to thank me for all that I have done for her and the boys over the last few years.  She called me "super mom" and said that she is glad that I am her mother.  She had many profound quotes that were very appropriate for the letter.  Here is one of my favorites...

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”

― Washington Irving

 

Her letter said so much, and touched me deeply.  I can not read those words without a sense of accomplishment.  I succeeded at doing what I set out to do.  To keep my family strong and healthy and to help keep them on a path for lifelong success.  No room for feelings of despair and failure for now.  All I have to do is look at my photos (since I will be throwing away the blooms soon) and read that letter to know I have done the best that I could in a very difficult situation and things are turning out for the best.

 

I can do anything!