While reading the paper this week at home..I thought I had put up the paper with this article in..I asked my mom if she knew where the old papers from this week were..she said, why? I told her there was a article I wanted to keep. She said what was it..I said a Dear Abby article...she says, what was it about..of course, with my emotions I couldn't even begin to tell her what it was about...I just said something about a jewelry box... I told her I would find it on line..and of course, I did. Here it is...I think it's so precious and just wanted to share. It really touched my heart. This has been one of my favorite articles from Dear Abby. So sad...so true.
Jewelry box tells tale of mom’s love
Dear Abby: After a long battle with cancer, my beloved mother died. After we got over the initial shock of Mom’s passing, we were looking through her room. It had always been ingrained in us not to snoop through Mom’s things, so there were some feelings of guilt when we did it.
On her dresser was an old jewelry box one of us had given her for Christmas years ago. There was no jewelry inside.
Instead, nestled in the threadbare red velveteen, were the treasures of a lifetime of loving: The hospital bracelets each of us had worn as infants, a lock of my baby hair, the first Mother’s Day card ever given to her, an old school photo of me framed in popsicle sticks, a gift card written to her by my father before we were born.
My sister and I were amazed. Our mom knew that love isn’t something you wait for or something that comes to you from elsewhere, but rather that it’s a behavior, a way of being in the world. Her personal treasures were evidence not of the love she’d received, but tokens of the love she had given.
We decided to assemble a scrapbook of these treasures, to be kept for a year by each of us then passed along to the others as a Christmas gift each holiday.
Please tell your readers that in the end, all that matters is the love you give. That is our mother’s legacy to us, and it will ultimately be her legacy to her great-grandchildren.
This Christmas, while missing our mother, we will smile through our tears, remembering how her face would be alight with love on Christmas morning at the sight of us opening the gifts she’d left under the tree.
** I know as a mother now..exactly what those jewelry boxes hold... Mine holds so much more then any expensive jewelry could hold.
I have baby teeth, baby bracelets, special letters to santa, the easter bunny, report cards, special occasions all of those precious things given to us by our children, that only mothers know. I look thru mine often and thru smiles and tears and I always know how blessed I am. I am so lucky and fortunate to have two of the most wonderful kids ever. Travis & Haley I love you both so much. I guess I have been double blessed because I know...that I have one of the most wonderful moms as well. I hope that I am as special to my kids as my mom is to me. SIGH!
1|1|that is exactly what i have in mine !!|smiles|mrsbettygreen@yahoo.com|21:58:47|12/28/2011|