Not sure where to begin … but last night … I went back to the place where I used to live … and all my siblings were there, as well as well as their spouses, minus one … 6 grown children in the small house where we spent many years together, the only place some ever knew as youngsters … growing into adults … It began as no special occasion … the youngest of us all, the only one who lives far away, was home, and we all were together, most with our spouses and my mind began to wonder back to yesteryear…
Setting the event … At home, near Bladenboro, 6 children of Robby and Myrtle Hester, slightly aged … ages, mid to late 60s to mid 80s … all in the same house where we all spent the longest time of our young lives … Where dad and mom struggled to have a place of their own to raise 6 growing, hungry youngsters … Mom and dad no longer live there, they have departed this scene … that is another story … but it was the place where 3 nearly grown boys slept in the same regular size bed … Where if you went to bed too early, to get the middle spot you may wake up on the outside with the cover not totally over you … on a cold winter morning…
I thought about my mom and how proud she must be, looking down and realizing we all remembered some of what she wanted us to know about life, about loving one another … some of the most important things about life, about doing unto others as we wanted them to do for us … about what was important … loving family, about sharing, about going to church on Sunday. We were not perfect, but that was mom’s desire, her dream I suppose.
We all enjoyed pizza … not sure we ever shared pizza as youngsters … but the conversation was thoughtful. I could not help but think how pleased mom must have been, thinking about how it used to be, thinking about what mom wanted us to become … to love one another, and I felt that last night … We had pictures taken to capture the moment … just as mom would have wanted … Sorry, kinda let my emotions take over … Wish you could have known my mom … and her young ones…
39 degrees at 5:30 a.m. Today’s forecast … Sunny, with a high near 55, windy, maximum gusts in the 21 mph range. Clear skies tonight, low near 31 and more wind. Wednesday, sunny, with a high near 57 and more wind, gusting to near 22 mph.
“In truth, a family is what you make it.”
“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family.”
“My mother used to tell us that when push comes to shove, you always know who to turn to.”
robert g hester
rgh4612@gmail.com
910-876-2322
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