Posted 8-14-19
One of the many things I have always appreciated about my mom is her sacrificial nature. She has always, especially in my later life, cared more that things go well for me than her. She, like all of us, had her occasional need for “Me Time”, but her primary concern was her role as mom. She would sneak around and slip me a 20 spot when times were rough for us even though she wasn’t exactly loaded. She would bring groceries, babysit, give, and serve. She sacrificed. Oh that I could be as good as she was in that area.
One time when this sacrifice was especially evident was when she had got in an accident in late 1989. She got a small settlement for the resulting whiplash and surely had ideas of how to spend the money that would have been better for her than where the money went. See, I was at the then SMSU (Now called Missouri State University) as a freshman in college and was engaged to be married in the summer of 1990 to the most beautiful woman in the universe. I found a flier in the religious studies office about an archaeological dig in Banias, Israel (Biblically called Caeserea Philippi) that would cover the summer of 1990. My carefree thinking is we would bump back our wedding until the fall when I returned and, after a bit of a winding road, that is exactly what happened. In hindsight I wish I would have done it in 1991 and would have brought my beautiful bride to the Middle East with me, but divine providence spoke otherwise.
Before I could go to Israel to attempt to assume the roll of my favorite movie character Indiana Jones, I needed to come up with the cash to make this trek. It was around $4000, which, in 1990 was still a boatload. I saved a little from umpiring baseball and my job at Sears, I sold some baseball cards, mowed some lawns, sold my very favorite car in the world (see the middle picture in my little collage on the left below), I fundraised at my church, I bummed money from family but I was still short. Rescue=mom. Her settlement finished off the financial need and the rest, as they say, is Historical Biblical Archaeology.
While mom has always loved us dearly, she was anything but a helicopter parent in those days. She encouraged us to live life to its fullest and she was always there for us when we messed up (oh how we messed up and could have messed up worse!!). It would have been easier on her to try to micromanage our lives to keep us from injury and her from worry, but she sacrificed peace. She laughed at our antics (while NOT endorsing them) and she cried with and for us when we were hurt. In short, she cared. She loved…and still loves us today. This parenting style and giving spirit are just two examples of the sacrificial person she is and I am a better person for it.
Update: Mom was about the same yesterday. I will zoom by this afternoon for a visit and a hug for paying a large part of the way for my trip and for being such a sacrificial mom.
Please pray for my sister and family as she had to put her longtime pooch to sleep after a long, at times rough, life. When you care for a loved one, even in a part-time capacity, it can encompass all of your available emotions. This loss is super hard for my sis and she could use your prayers of comfort. RIP little Cuj. (Bella)
#EndALZ
Last little streamer thought: I don’t recall if mom had any head trauma (concussion) in her wreck mentioned above, but Traumatic Brain Injury (including concussions) can potentially be a cause or at least an exacerbating element in Alzheimer’s. She had multiple stories about traumatic brain injury living on the farm with rambunctious brothers and 1950’s discipline. There are soooooo many “causes” and things that make dementia worse, I am always skeptical of cures, treatments and vaccines that we read about in the news. It is a many-headed Hydra, and will take many “cures” to cure. 🙁