My mom’s an interesting person. All her life she has lived for others. She is a servant. In fact, she is a servant to a fault. At times I tell her she needs to be servant, not a slave.
Ethel will be 83 in April. She has been alone for three and a half years; I believe it’s the first time in her entire life. She appears to be growing younger. I have had the privilege of spending several weeks with her this past year as we served others in our family. Most recently, she came to Colorado for 2 weeks to support my daughter after Emery was born.
When we met at the airport she introduced me to her new friend that she made on the flight. The woman looked as if she wanted to hug me. As we were leaving baggage claim, she did hug my mom and said, “I learned so much from you.” It was a two hour flight; God only knows what they talked about. I’m used to this however; every time mom comes to visit she tells me in great detail all about the person she sat next to.
A few months ago, mom joined Curves. It is no surprise that other Curve members come up to her daily to tell her what an inspiration she is. She is grandma to many adopted grandchildren. In fact, I think she has more personal relationships now than she has ever had.
Mom worries a lot; is concerned for the well being of her ever growing family. Mom also laughs a lot. There are countless times that we find ourselves laughing so hard it hurts. I also found out that she is obsessed with looking at the clock during the night. The room we shared most recently had no clock, so mom would check her cell phone all through the night for the time. How do I know this? Frequently she would hit the camera button and take a picture; a noise that is difficult to mute. There were 46 black pictures stored on her phone; giving us yet another reason for a good laugh.
Servant or slave, mom will always be willing to give. Someone said recently that they didn’t think they could verbalize what mom believes. I guess that’s because she uses actions more than words. There are two words that seem appropriate however; serve and laugh. Not a bad motto.