Too many times we wait till someone is gone or becomes sick before we tell them what they mean to us or how they have affected our life. Today I choose to let my father know what he means to me, on Father’s Day.
I can’t be with him today. He is at his home thousands of miles away and I am at mine. These are the days I hope the memories we have shared keep him company while I am away. I wish I could be with him today.
My dad is one of the greatest people I know. He has spent his life serving others, always putting their needs before his own. On a daily basis he helps people and supports them through the good times and most importantly the bad ones. I could not be more proud of him.
By his example, he has taught me compassion, service, the grace of quietness, the importance of humility, kindness, faith, open-heartedness, humor, strength, the honor of family and above all love.
I am who I am today because of my father’s and mother’s love. They have allowed me the freedom to become the woman I am by having faith in me and letting me live the life I choose.
With that trust I try to take risk in life, understanding how precious and short it is, and live life by not holding back. I try to take risk in love, learning from them to not be afraid to fall in love, it is one of the only things that matters in life. And I try to always learn from my mistakes.
They taught me I am not perfect and should never try to be. But I am responsible for my own life and the energy I bring to others. I should choose to learn from the mistakes I make, to gain wisdom and humility from those moments in life. And if I do, I will be a better person if I can find the grace to do so.
I am blessed to have been shown this kind of love from my parents. I am grateful for it every day. Today Dad, I just want to tell you, I see all you do. I hear all you say. And everything you say and do for me matters to me more then I could ever express in words.
I love you dad. Happy Father’s day!
Christy
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
In Honor of Beatrice Mary Victoria Armitage Smith
Recently my grandma passed away. I was fortunate enough to have spent the last days of her life with her and I will forever be grateful for that gift. I got to say goodbye. Not everyone gets a chance to do that with the ones we love. I loved my Grandmother and will miss you very much.
When I was younger I lived close to her and did get to spend many holidays and visits with her. They are wonderful memories I will always treasure. But later in life I moved away to Colorado and didn’t get to spend as much time with her. I regret that. In reflecting on her death, I have mixed emotions and am sad when asking myself the question, did I really know her? I know that may sound weird to ask of a family member but did I really know her? I knew her as my wonderful and loving grandmother but she has been so much more in life than that.
What I do know about her is she is originally from England, met my grandfather in the war, fell in love and moved over to the United States. She left her family and all of her friends to start a new life in America with my grandfather. I will never know what that felt like for her. I can only imagine what that would be like. Terrifying and exciting all at the same time.
I also don’t know what she was like as a young woman. Not what she did to spend her time but more about what made her happy, what made her laugh and even cry. I don’t know what it was like for her as a mother, raising four daughters in a foreign country without her family for support in a time you couldn’t just pick up the phone or email them when you really wanted or needed their advice.
I began to realize that I don’t know my grandmother, well as least like I would like to. I have never had a chance to sit down and have a conversation with her, woman to woman. I am sure that we have similar emotions, habits, fears, likes and dislikes in life but I don’t really know what those are. I am a legacy of a woman that I really don’t know as I should.
I regret that. We all are here for such a very short time in this world. And so easily we forget to really know the people in our lives. I mean really know them. Not how their day was or how the job is going, etc… I mean really get to know them and having deep conversations with them.
Conversations about life issues and about what their biggest triumphs and fears are. What choices in life they are proud of and which ones they realized were mistakes they had to learn from. What they would have done different if given that second chance and what they would love to pass on to us as wisdom.
These are things that I would like to know about my grandmother. I won’t have the chance now. But what I can do for her, in memory of her, is to get to know my family and be closer to them for her. She would have loved that. She always wanted that for all of us and I hope that we can give her that and in doing so give ourselves a great gift too.
When I was younger I lived close to her and did get to spend many holidays and visits with her. They are wonderful memories I will always treasure. But later in life I moved away to Colorado and didn’t get to spend as much time with her. I regret that. In reflecting on her death, I have mixed emotions and am sad when asking myself the question, did I really know her? I know that may sound weird to ask of a family member but did I really know her? I knew her as my wonderful and loving grandmother but she has been so much more in life than that.
What I do know about her is she is originally from England, met my grandfather in the war, fell in love and moved over to the United States. She left her family and all of her friends to start a new life in America with my grandfather. I will never know what that felt like for her. I can only imagine what that would be like. Terrifying and exciting all at the same time.
I also don’t know what she was like as a young woman. Not what she did to spend her time but more about what made her happy, what made her laugh and even cry. I don’t know what it was like for her as a mother, raising four daughters in a foreign country without her family for support in a time you couldn’t just pick up the phone or email them when you really wanted or needed their advice.
I began to realize that I don’t know my grandmother, well as least like I would like to. I have never had a chance to sit down and have a conversation with her, woman to woman. I am sure that we have similar emotions, habits, fears, likes and dislikes in life but I don’t really know what those are. I am a legacy of a woman that I really don’t know as I should.
I regret that. We all are here for such a very short time in this world. And so easily we forget to really know the people in our lives. I mean really know them. Not how their day was or how the job is going, etc… I mean really get to know them and having deep conversations with them.
Conversations about life issues and about what their biggest triumphs and fears are. What choices in life they are proud of and which ones they realized were mistakes they had to learn from. What they would have done different if given that second chance and what they would love to pass on to us as wisdom.
These are things that I would like to know about my grandmother. I won’t have the chance now. But what I can do for her, in memory of her, is to get to know my family and be closer to them for her. She would have loved that. She always wanted that for all of us and I hope that we can give her that and in doing so give ourselves a great gift too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)