• Aboot:

Epiphabets

~ My.Daily.Distraction

Epiphabets

Tag Archives: grateful

Post 70: JOY STORY

23 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Books, Christmas, Family, History, Reading, Stories, Teaching

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#joy, Baking, boy, butter, chickens, Christmas, cows, donkey, Family, Farm, farmer, fathers, fire, flour, furniture, goats, Good Fortune, grateful, Happiness, hats, horse, Knitting, love, mitts, Mother, nuts, scarves, Shopping, Songs, Sweaters, Travel, vanilla

A long time ago my Father told me about a book he had once read.

The book had been required reading for his teaching degree.

He told me the following story, and he told it well.

To this day I can remember how it’s profound wisdom humbled me.

The only thing that my Father could not remember about this story was the title of the book and who wrote it.

Should you recognize this story and happen to know it’s title and/or author, please let me know….

This story begins with a family living high in the rural mountains. A farmer lived in a small house with his wife and son.

They raised chickens and goats and owned several cows.

They lived off the land.

In the book, the young boy talks about the family preparations for Christmas.

This young boy is anticipating the impending trip into town which will be made the following day. The journey into town will be a long arduous trek down the mountain made with a horse and a donkey.

Anticipation of this trip…

…brought him joy.

Tomorrow morning, he told himself… everyone will rise very early. Mother will have my clean clothes all prepared.

The next day, as Father and Son prepare to leave, Mother handed her son the list of items needed to do the Christmas baking.

The list was simple and short.

He opened a piece of paper and read what was written on it.

Sugar, flour, spices, oranges, nuts, vanilla.

As he read her list…

…he felt joy.

Warmly bundled they began their long journey down the mountain. The trip into town did not happen often but when it did the boy really enjoyed the time he spent with his father.

As they meandered through the crunchy snow on the downward trail…

…he felt joy.

Upon arriving into town they entered the dry goods store with shopping list in hand.

The young boy always enjoyed wandering through the store. There was so many lovely things to look at, so many practical things to wish for.

Just being inside the store…

…brought him joy.

Once all the items had been procured, Father and son returned to the horse and donkey and begin their long slow trip back up the mountain to their home.

Outside, it was much colder now. But the boy was comfortably at ease in spite of the cold weather because of all his warm clothing. He was grateful for his Father’s old coat and his Mother’s knitted sweater, mitts, hat, gloves and socks.

And as he thought of his Mother knitting beside the fire…

…it brought him joy.

At last, Father and son arrived home again.

The newly purchased items were ceremoniously carried inside the house and presented to Mother.

The boy reveled in his Mother’s happiness and he felt blessed to have such wonderful parents.

And as his mind acknowledged the love he had for his family…

…he felt great joy.

In the next two days the smell of his Mother’s baking filled the entire house.

His senses were filled with cinnamon, nutmeg, orange and vanilla.

And as he helped his Mother prepare the dough for baking, he marvelled at how silky the flour and butter felt as he ran it through his fingers.

And this too…

…brought him joy.

As he watched the cookies warming themselves in the oven he thought his heart would burst with Christmas joy.

It was Christmas Eve, and he was truly happy.

Then, the young boy thought to himself:

I can only imagine all the children who are more fortunate than I…

…These children whose parents can provide them with money, expensive clothes and toys, and big fancy houses filled with beautiful furniture.

These children who have a hundred times the possessions that I have…

Just think of how much happier they must be than I am right now…

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Memories Of My Mother… Post 36: Thank You For The Rose So Sweet

10 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#joy, Blessings, blogs, Breast Cancer, Cancer, daughters, Family, Fragrance, gifts, God, grateful, grief, hospice, life, loss, mourning, respite house, rose, roses, Stories, thankful

image

It was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon on Mother’s Day when I found myself in the Respite House kitchen helping myself to a cup of coffee.

That was when I was approached by a volunteer.

“Have you received one of our brunch bags?” she asked me.

I asked her what ‘brunch bags’ she was referring to.

She reached into a box beside a kitchen counter and the next thing I knew was that I was being handed a medium-sized brown paper shopping bag.

Although I could not see what was inside the bag I did notice that the bag held two long-stem roses.

They were lovely and hard to miss.

One rose was white, the other yellow.

“We’re giving these to all of our mothers today for Mother’s Day,” she said as she handed the bag to me.

“How lovely,” I said as I accepted the offered brunch bag.

“Thank you!”

It was an extremely kind gesture from the Respite House. I considered this an unexpected and deeply appreciated token of goodwill.

With my brunch bag in one hand and my coffee in the other, I return to Mother’s room to find that the nurses had done a fine job of tending to her needs. They had changed her into a fresh nightgown, made the bed, and had even fluffed her pillow. A small fan in the corner kept the air cool and comfortable.

I leaned over the bed and kissed her cheek. She smelled wonderful.

Seeing that her eyes were open I held up and showed her the brown paper shopping bag.

“Look what I got,” I said with a smile.

A pleasant look of surprise came over her face. I noticed that her cheeks looked a little flushed.

I was curious as to the contents of the brunch bag. However, there was too much tissue in the way to see what was at the bottom of the bag. I would have to wait until later to see what culinary goodies awaited.

Since the volunteer had called it a brunch bag it was safe to assume that the contents included edibles of one sort or another.

Goody, I thought to myself…

Dinner!

Earlier, I had been thinking about what I would have for dinner that night. Mother’s fridge lacked fresh fruits and vegetables. The only item of interest was a jar of expired spaghetti sauce in her cupboard and a package of dried pasta.

Pass.

Maybe, I could go to the local Friendly’s or even the pizzeria. However, I knew that by the time I left the Respite House I would not have the strength nor will to go and order dinner.

Rest was most important right now.

Whatever was inside the bunch bag would be my dinner.

And thankfully so…

Problem solved.

As I put the bag down, I took out one of the roses, the yellow one, and held it out towards Mother.

She smiled at the sight of it.

As I held the rose closer to her nose, she inhaled the fragrance as deeply as she could.

She conveyed the sweetness of the rose’s fragrance with an unmistakable…

“Ahhhh… ”

Once again, I brought the flower closer to her so that she could enjoy the fragrance of a rose for a second time…

…and most likely, the very last time.

I was keenly aware that this was another Mother Daughter moment that I would remember for the rest of my life.

It was a precious moment.

It was a joyful moment.

And I instinctively knew, that this moment…

Was yet one more gift.

And there were still many more yet to come.

 

 

 

 

Archives

  • August 2019 (2)
  • July 2019 (1)
  • June 2019 (7)
  • May 2019 (4)
  • June 2018 (3)
  • May 2018 (4)
  • January 2018 (6)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • July 2016 (6)
  • June 2016 (1)
  • August 2015 (4)
  • July 2015 (10)
  • June 2015 (5)
  • May 2015 (5)
  • April 2015 (14)
  • March 2015 (31)
  • February 2015 (28)
  • January 2015 (30)
  • December 2014 (29)
  • November 2014 (44)
  • October 2014 (24)
  • September 2014 (23)
  • August 2014 (31)
  • July 2014 (33)
  • June 2014 (28)
  • February 2014 (1)
  • November 2013 (9)
  • October 2013 (3)

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel