Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others...for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. ~ Albert Einstein
I have been so focused on completing the Princess' room but not for the sake of my daughter alone, I was also preparing in anticipation of visitors. You see, my daughter had to be moved to the guest room while I worked on her room, which as always with decorating took me longer than I had hoped, but the Princess also had to be moved out of that room by a definite date so that I could get it ready for a visit from my aunt and uncle. My aunt and uncle are very special people to me. I can never repay them for the kindnesses they have shown me, nor will I ever know all that they sacrificed for me, and I may never fully realize the person I was when they took me in and how it affected their relationship with their own children. When I was fourteen, they had me stay with them for what was meant to be just a couple of weeks, a break for both my mother and me to be away from each other, but the stay lengthen, and as start of school approached, my mother made it clear she did not want me back.
I was obedient for the most part, although my mother would probably argue against that—which was the real problem—we argued so much. I was very sassy and I did not respect her much at all. There are many reasons as to why our relationship had so completely eroded over the years, things my younger brother and sisters did not witness, thankfully, or do not remember well. I am glad they have enjoyed a closer relationship with my mother. Unfortunately, for my mother and for me, I had the memory of an elephant, as she wrote in my baby book. My mother not only had given up on me, but was ready to give me up and I was just as ready to go almost anywhere...but still it hurt so much to have my own mother reject me like that.
My mother's sister and her husband were my salvation. I lived with them for two years. I finally had a good understanding of what a loving and functional family is like, and how much I wanted and needed one. I wanted the loving relationships I saw my aunt, uncle, and cousins had for each other. No, they were not perfect people, but in my eyes there were no better people on the earth. I am sure it was more difficult than I realized back then on the entire family and my cousins may have suffered the most as they suddenly had to share their parents, who were on a pretty high pedestal with me.
The day of the visit finally came. They were stopping by on their way home from a wedding: their oldest daughter's daughter was married a week before. There had been much in preparations and knowing them as I do, I knew my aunt and uncle would be helping as much as they could. My uncle had also just weeks before had his gall bladder removed and still had not fully recovered from that. He was not quite as talkative as he usually is, but he did seem more rested and himself the last day. I suspected they both would need to rest quite a bit during their visit with us and so made no plans to do anything or go out anywhere. We found out that they had been doing so much riding around in a car for the past couple of weeks that they were happy not to do any at all while they stayed with us.
They came in by plane on Monday to Atlanta, our second largest airport in the U.S. We asked them to be sure not to try to walk it and they were escorted with my aunt in a wheelchair out to the pick up area—only their escort took them to the ticketing area instead of through baggage where we were, because they had no baggage except their carry-on. Well, the meet-up was awkward, but thanks to cell phones we found them.
We had delayed having our Thanksgiving dinner until the day after they arrived. All the time they were here, we had wonderful talks and they played with the Princess. They were quite tired and they napped when they needed to do so. My daughter, since she was just a toddler, has always been very considerate about letting people sleep during the day, playing on her own quietly without me having to tell her. Of course, as soon as one awakes she is back to her energetic and talkative self.They left on Thursday morning, all too soon for me. They are are well into their seventies and still caring for and milking goats daily—even when I was younger they wore me out just trying to keep up with them! My aunt thanked us for our hospitality, which ironically I probably would not have learned if not for them.
~ Thank you, my Lord, for my aunt and uncle. For giving me time with them, for all that they have taught me and the little bit that I can give back to them in gratitude. More than that, my Lord, thank you for what you have given to us and that we share it with others. Still, I am ashamed that what I do in my gratitude is pitifully little. ~
