Day 341

Day 341: My mother was a fan of the object lesson. She felt visual aids cemented learning in one’s brain. I think that is why she was so good at leaving us notes with the items she left behind, because she knew a note would outlast a verbal explanation. She may have just been good at this from the beginning, or she may have picked it up from her mother-in-law.

Grandma Evy sent me gifts. Like the books from yesterday, her gifts always included notes. She sent me my father’s baby spoon with a note explaining that those were his little baby teeth marks. She sent me a copy of her college publication with a note hoping I might be interested in her short story, and I was. She sent me the history she had written of her mother-in-law with a note that says “As a ship turns into the storm for survival, so must we meet the storms of life head on, or we become lost or destroyed. Do not carry the fight of yesterday or tomorrow on your mind. What the Lord commands, we have the capacity to perform. Do ordinary things extraordinarily well.”

In all of her many eras, Grandma Evy did just that.

#momscompanytowels #redefinition #leaveanote