A LOVE LETTER ON USA MOTHER’S DAY ‘22

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, EVERYBODY!  YES, YOU TOO ALL YOU MENBOYS!

This week, my brain opened the flood gates to memories, and I have had mind pictures flooding through my mind’s eye. Please take notice that there is NO PERFECT anything because we are all in process. That said, I have been the perfect mother and I have the perfect kids. I WOULD NOT CHANGE A THING!!!! And I had the perfect mother and father who gave me exactly what I needed to thrive in this life. WHAT????????? But, you said….. I know but I have changed my mind.

My sons were the perfect parents to their children and gave them exactly what they needed to thrive.  Bottom line = WE ALL DID A GOOD JOB!!!!!!

WOW!  WHAT A REVELATION!!!  WE CAN ALL TAKE A BOW.

My mother was great. She was full of vitality and wit and filled with charm and poise.  And she was soooo proud to be MRS. JESSE JEWELL.  Anna Lou Jewell.  She loved to laugh and tell a joke to make someone else laugh- with a bowl of hard candy on the kitchen table in case company came to call.   And everyone was welcome at her table. And she was soooo happy when I came home to visit.  And a wonderful cook. She prided herself with her desserts – taking recipes from Good Housekeeping and the newspapers.  And her mother passed down family recipes that she duplicated.   The recipes were intuition and feel.  Wow, she was perfect in all of that.  Excellent memories.  And Daddy was a perfect mother to me, too, teaching me life lessons and how to shake hands. He had a cliché for everything and taught me to show off. They were both very protective and kept me safe and sound. 

My Daughter Trascey was the best! She loved her family very much and kept her brothers safe. They would tease her, and she would tease them back. And she loved animals and had a lot of cats and kittens and aquariums and gerbilles and mice and guinea pigs and gardens and projects galore. She was very creative and an excellent writer. And artist. I had her art framed on the walls for years. She liked to sew and cook. She made a beautiful quilt which I have on my bed right now and made great gingerbread cookies and gingerbread men for holidays. And cake was her specialty. She would make all our birthday cakes. Wow, what a talent!!!

And Craig was the best.  He was artist and skilled at woodworking and fixing things.  I always asked his advice about everything.   We did fixers together.  Good looking and excellent worker.   Surfer and athlete.  I still have his woodwork on my shelf today. And, he has grown into an amazing man.  An amazing leader of men who helps people in need.  And he now builds his own dune buggies and races them in the desert, helping veterans along the way. He has always liked the military.  He has his own way with his children, and they are thriving so – the proof is in the pudding.   Wow, what a survivor and a thriver.

I have a list a mile long for Blake. He has been both mother and father to his children. He has an excellent sense of humor and loves music.  Had his own band for years and played guitar, sang, and had fun with friends.  he loved his brother and his sister, and they all protected each other.   Full of mischief. Loves dogs.  Loved his grandmother Nana Lou.  And she loved him. 

As you can see, I have chosen to leave out all the negatives.  In all three of my children, inside each one is that son and daughter that  I have described.  This is a love letter to my family who is alive and thriving today.  I will close with a post I saved –

“I asked an elderly man once what it was like to be old and to know the majority of his life was behind him. He told me that he has been the same age his entire life. He said the voice inside of his head had never aged. He has always just been the same boy. His mother’s son. He had always wondered when he would grow up and be an old man. He said he watched his body age and his faculties dull but the person he is inside never got tired. Never aged. Never changed.

Our spirits are eternal. Our souls are forever. The next time you encounter an elderly person, look at them and know they are still a child, just as you are still a child and children will always need love, attention and purpose.”

~ Author unknown

BEST, JAY