Cinnamon Rolls and a Hug
Start the new year positively...
Happy New Year's Eve!
Every time a new baby would be born into our family, my mother would hold him or her and say, “New life. Babies are a reminder that life goes on.”
Now before you think that sentiment is common, ordinary or even mundane, you should know that I watched my mom lose her sister – her best friend – when they were in their forties. Aunt Lib had a bad heart back in the days before there were meds and surgeries and things that could have saved her. My mom’s mom died from a goiter. Something now so easily treated left my seven-year-old mother and her siblings without their mom. Before my mother graduated high school, her father had also died.
My father, her husband, died right before he would have turned seventy. Before my mom died, she had lost all but one of her siblings and all her siblings-in-law.
So, when my mom said, “Babies are a sign that life goes on…” the sentiment carried weight. Sometimes when we suffer an incredible loss (or many as in my mom’s case) the only thing we can do is remember that life goes on.
That might sound so pragmatic that it borders on cruel (in this series of “let’s end the old year/start the new year on a happy note” posts) but think about it. My mom could have gotten lost in darkness, instead she looked for the light, and with eleven kids getting married and having babies, she saw plenty of light. She made it her mission to become the best grandma possible. And she was.
It wasn’t just a matter of making lemonade out of lemons…it was about finding purpose. This goes beyond the Sophie Cat purpose of being who you were meant to be…it’s about letting go of yourself and doing good for others.
I know people tell you that all the time. When you’re down, find someone to help. But do we do it? And if we do it, do we understand that we’re supposed to do it unselfishly? Not to gain something but only to give – without expectation.
And that’s the message of today’s post: give something, but do it right. When you’re down and out, don’t look at what you’ve lost, look at the people around you and use your pain to understand theirs. Or use what you have to fill their needs.
My mom didn’t have a lot. She didn’t need a lot. She could cook and she could hug.
In this day and age, who among us couldn’t use a good cinnamon roll and a hug?
In 2018, instead of being mired in the bad, bogged down in awfulness, let’s look around our own little corner of the world and find our version of cinnamon rolls and hugs.
Because the other thing my mom taught me is that one person CAN change the world. Maybe not the whole of it, but there’s nothing wrong with brightening up our own little corner. :)
Happy New Year's Eve!
Every time a new baby would be born into our family, my mother would hold him or her and say, “New life. Babies are a reminder that life goes on.”
Now before you think that sentiment is common, ordinary or even mundane, you should know that I watched my mom lose her sister – her best friend – when they were in their forties. Aunt Lib had a bad heart back in the days before there were meds and surgeries and things that could have saved her. My mom’s mom died from a goiter. Something now so easily treated left my seven-year-old mother and her siblings without their mom. Before my mother graduated high school, her father had also died.
My father, her husband, died right before he would have turned seventy. Before my mom died, she had lost all but one of her siblings and all her siblings-in-law.
So, when my mom said, “Babies are a sign that life goes on…” the sentiment carried weight. Sometimes when we suffer an incredible loss (or many as in my mom’s case) the only thing we can do is remember that life goes on.
That might sound so pragmatic that it borders on cruel (in this series of “let’s end the old year/start the new year on a happy note” posts) but think about it. My mom could have gotten lost in darkness, instead she looked for the light, and with eleven kids getting married and having babies, she saw plenty of light. She made it her mission to become the best grandma possible. And she was.
It wasn’t just a matter of making lemonade out of lemons…it was about finding purpose. This goes beyond the Sophie Cat purpose of being who you were meant to be…it’s about letting go of yourself and doing good for others.
I know people tell you that all the time. When you’re down, find someone to help. But do we do it? And if we do it, do we understand that we’re supposed to do it unselfishly? Not to gain something but only to give – without expectation.
And that’s the message of today’s post: give something, but do it right. When you’re down and out, don’t look at what you’ve lost, look at the people around you and use your pain to understand theirs. Or use what you have to fill their needs.
My mom didn’t have a lot. She didn’t need a lot. She could cook and she could hug.
In this day and age, who among us couldn’t use a good cinnamon roll and a hug?
In 2018, instead of being mired in the bad, bogged down in awfulness, let’s look around our own little corner of the world and find our version of cinnamon rolls and hugs.
Because the other thing my mom taught me is that one person CAN change the world. Maybe not the whole of it, but there’s nothing wrong with brightening up our own little corner. :)
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