Take Time to Say Thank you

 



Dear Pat,  



I’ve never forgotten those special years that you babysat me and my sister. You were the teenager that lived right down the block and I was a terribly shy four-year-old. Mom had gone back to college and you stepped into our world and made my mom’s absence so much easier. You read us books, rode bikes with us, and even walked with us to the playground whenever we asked.




You did this for all the years it took Mom to finish school. Summers were the best. You gave us homemade popsicles and filled our kiddy pool. You found shady spots in the backyard to play board games, and gave us more time than we deserved. I didn’t know babysitters could have simply kept an eye on us and not played with us like you did.




Remember my frequent bouts of tonsillitis? You never wavered in caring for me. One time you drove me to the doctor to make sure I was not too sick. Eventually we were old enough to not need a babysitter, but you remained close enough to check in on us. 


Yours was the first wedding I ever attended. I was awestruck with the flowing dresses, the flowers, and the vision of white taffeta I saw as you walked down the aisle. You had already become a nurse—and now you were a wife. Even though I was still much too young to know anything about a career or marriage, you were inspiring me to look ahead.


The one thing I never did was thank you. Oh, I probably was reminded by my parents to say ‘thank you’ for the specially decorated Christmas cookies you gave us each year. But I never did thank you with a heart of gratitude for filling a space in my life that I didn’t realize was empty. You chose to be more than a babysitter and it made all the difference in my childhood. 


So, finally, after decades, I’m thanking you for your love, your faithfulness, your heart of kindness. 


My regret is that I didn’t say it sooner and now it will be your family reading these words. I’m praying for their hearts as they mourn losing you. If heaven has a place for earthly letters, I’m asking Jesus to deliver this one to you.


Love,

Karen

Patricia Willey 



Popular posts from this blog

Dreaming the Dream

Image
Dreaming big dreams about the future is easy for kids. The only thing standing in the way is time.  Kid’s dreams are not about skills, or opportunities, or even practicality. Those things come much later.  My grandson hopes to be professional soccer player when he grows up. This week, a small piece of his dream came true when his Boys and Girls Club was invited to participate in pre-game activities with the Seattle Sounders Football Club.  He got to suit up in a real jersey and walk on the field with a real pro player. Imagine a young soccer player looking up to who he hopes to be one day. If you haven’t taken the time to talk to a child about their future dreams—you should.  They believe. As we get older we sometimes forget that dreams fuel our hopes—and that's something we all need. So, do you still dream? Or have you left those childhood thoughts behind?  S pending time with children will  inspire you to believe agai
Read more

Sexy Selfies: Posting for attention

Image
We’ve all seen the “selfie” pix on Facebook—those self-taken images in varying forms of dress (or undress). Usually they’re female poses taken in public restrooms, dressing rooms, bedrooms, and lots of what used to be private space. Thanks to selfies and social media, it’s open season on privacy—and modesty. Do you have a social media “friend” who has become a serial selfie? Most often selfies are young girls sharing their sexiness with the world. Serial selfies post hundreds of pictures, so it’s hard to ignore the display. The question is why do they do it. While I don’t approve of the sexy display of serial selfies, insecurity is at the root. Selfies collect “likes” to boost morale. The attention received is like a balm to their broken spirits. But the dark side of exhibitionism is feeling used—not unlike the girl searching for love and giving away her body in hopes of finding love. Selfies seek approval. They're locked in a perpetual cycle of posting pi
Read more

Wild or Tame? Which One Are You?

Image
Finally! Research that explains why I act the way I do. Columbia University’s Motivational Science Center studied people’s activities and what brought them the most happiness. Even more telling were how those activities changed as they aged. Twenty-somethings tend to equate happiness with high-energy activities. Words like excited and ecstatic are usually attached to spontaneous things—even risky things—and living life full throttle.  Researchers labeled this Promotion Motivation —the urge to take chances, including career moves that may not work out. Happiness comes from happenings—the more happenings, the more happiness. By age forty, adults associate happiness with things running smoothly at work and home. It’s also about feeling secure in relationships. Keeping healthy matters more too. This behavior is called Prevention Motivation —and people are more concerned with preserving and maintaining the things they value. It appears that time ofte
Read more