Mary's Heartbeats

Looking into her eyes is looking through the years of history.  Those deep blue eyes were Granny's.  I remember how big they looked behind her thick glasses.  The glasses magnified  the sparkle of joy and humor always found within them.  She was the only grandparent I really had.  Her husband had died before I was born, and my mother's parents had been deceased as well.  She seemed to make up for that though, as she was always filled with "oceans of love."   Granny loved us, her open arms and wide grin warmly greeted us whenever we would visit. Her hugs engulfed you.  She would have a homemade meal waiting for our arrival, especially made by her and Aunt Lucille.  Often we would eat out on their enclosed front porch during the hot summer days.  Dessert would be her signature "Sunshine Cookies," white puffy cookies with scalloped edges that always made you want more.  Her eyes teased you to indulge as she passed the coo...

Each day, the flowers seem to unfold before my eyes!  It was such a great surprise to come home from a very busy day and find the beautiful purple arrangement there in the kitchen sink, just waiting for my attention.  Right next to it was a card, exclusively for "Mary Strubhar."  It was an early Mother's Day gift from my son!  My response was to melt with warm tears flowing down my cheeks.  There's nothing like being loved for being just Mom .   It's times like these that I think I understand my own Mom so much better.  The only thing is that all my insight into this knowledge has come too late for me to share with her.  I would love to have a conversation today with her.  I wish I would have been more sensitive to her tears that I often didn't get.  I knew that those tears were evidence of her passion and love, although I didn't really know the depth of that love until unfortunately she had gone.  Oh, I always knew she lov...

I pounded on the bedroom sliding glass door, "Hey, you!  Watch this!"  I did it again until I got the response, "What?" Up to the grassy area I went, and with almost perfect precision I executed my 2nd round off.  My landing was a tiny more wobbly than when I did the first one out of sight at the other end of the yard.  "What are you thinking?" my husband called from the room, "You could kill yourself doing those things, don't you know your age? You are supposed to be wiser not foolish. . . "  I chuckled to myself, yea, I can still do a cartwheel or round off, after all these years, it's gotta be my strong core!. . . I have had a good week, not as depressing as I thought.  It is somewhat odd to find yourself at the start of your senior years.  My oldest brother, of course, reminded me of the fact that I am officially now a full fledged member of AARP. Yet, I actually  feel more empowered with life.  I appreciate the goodness that God ...