Picture and Stories

I posted this picture on our family blog, but I thought it was worthy of a double post. Isn't it great? Miss Carol Hickman sent it to me this week. It was taken at Kyleigh and Chad's engagement party out at Warrior. I remember mom calling me the next day to tell me how much fun the party was and how she and daddy had such a great time. I'm so happy to have this picture, and I'm glad that Miss Carol was such a sweet friend to my mom.

Mom loved to give. I kid you not when I say that she would rather give a present than get one. For my Aunt Judy's 50th birthday, mom sent her 50 presents for her to open on the 50 days before the day, then surprised her with a girls' weekend in Hot Springs, with all my Aunt Judy's best friends. She had more fun picking out things for other people than for herself. Anytime I told my mom I liked something of hers, her reply was ALWAYS, "You can have it." I would tell her I liked her shoes and she would say, "You can just have them. I don't wear them that much anyway." (Good thing that we wore the same size!) Same thing with jewelry, make-up, candles, etc. Anytime we were together, I'd end up coming home with loads more than I took with me. Just because. Finally, one day I just said, "I don't say that I like it so you will give it to me, I just want you to know that I like it." She then says, "I know. But if I didn't want to give it away, I wouldn't." I loved that about my mom. I want to be just like that.

Apparently, the day that mom and dad were leaving for California, mom was sitting at the kitchen table finishing up some last minute things. Daddy was walking in and out of the house, loading the van. Mom says to daddy, "I'm going to send _____ some money." (I'm leaving out the name for the sake of privacy. Just one of my mom's friends that was going through a difficult time with sickness/finances.) Daddy says, "Okay," and continues to go in and out of the house. Mom then says, "I'm going to send her $100." Again, daddy says, "Okay." Mom then says, "Roger, are you sure you don't care?" Daddy again says, "No, Janice, I don't care. Do what you need to do." At that point, he stops and looks at her as he is speaking and mom looks up at him with tears in her eyes and says, "I just have to help somebody before I go."

What a legacy! Were any of you ever on the receiving end of my mom's kindness? If so, I'd love to hear your story!