Bittersweet Memories of True Love...

January and February are difficult months for a sentimental old soul like myself... they are the months that my beloved Parents went home to the Lord. Daddy passed away first, Feb. 22, 1997... Mom followed on Jan. 6, 2004. They were the most amazing people I'd ever known... and I'm forever thankful that God allowed me to be one of their daughters. I miss them, terribly.

They were married in 1948... The photo above is them in their first year as Husband and Wife... they almost reached their Golden Anniversary... My Parents were a fine example to my sister, brother, and myself... I loved to see them hug and kiss each other... I loved the sweet sound of their laughter... They were always there for us with so much love and support... They gave me a perfect childhood with the most incredibly awesome memories to treasure...

The best gift that they ever gave to me was the deep love that they had for each other... It simply was amazing to witness, and I'm forever better because of that...

At both of their funeral services, I did a reading... it was not easy for me to do... but it was something I wanted to do, I needed to do it... At my Father's service, I selected a passage from The Velveteen Rabbit, a book that they'd read to me many times... there is one passage that reminds me of them, and especially of Daddy... because I would often run my hands over the top of his head, to feel the tickle of his crew-cut that he wore after us kids were born... but truly this passage speaks to me of true love, and that is what I remember most about my Parents...

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

And so it was with my Father and me... "by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off" ... How could I have not stood and repeated those sweet words to him?

The cancer had moved swiftly throughout his body, and near the end it took over his brain... the very last time that I spoke with my Father, where he actually knew it was me, was on Valentine's Day... Indeed, these have been bittersweet days for me...

God bless...

Until another time... Pearl

Well done, good and faithful servant!
Matthew 25:21

For those of you who may desire, you can read the entire story of The Velveteen Rabbit online, here... It's a beautiful book with a precious message...