Five Minute Friday: What Mama Did

So back to The Five Minute Friday. It’s part of the writing community with Lisa Jo Baker – tales from a Gypsy Mama. She provides a one word prompt (this week more than one!), and we write for five minutes, then hit publish. No editing or second guessing. I think I'm going to like this week ...

This week: What Mama Did

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She gave me grace.

In how she lived her life. In her example. In what she lived for me. I saw with my child’s eyes, then with growing eyes, then with adult eyes, and now with my own mother’s eyes, how my own Mama lived grace each day.

My lovely Mama

So much of it was in the way she moved throughout her days. I know in my mind that we often rushed places, but I don’t remember rushing. I don’t remember her being frazzled, or hurried, or aggravated – all those things that I struggle with as a mom. I remember her encouraging me: in piano lessons, through math problems, in the midst of friendship crises that would seem to consume me. I remember her taking time to sip tea – always tea. And she’d fix it in the prettiest cup. With lemon on the side. And we’d sit and talk. I remember her quiet times – she always had time for quiet time with God. And I loved her desk and all its accoutrements; piled high with books and notebooks and pens. All of this grace.

Talking to her now, I know there were struggles. I know she had her frustrations. But she carried them so well – so far removed from me. I wish I could do that better.

The grace she gave me allowed me to come to her to share and talk – even about the hard things. It still does. It continues to draw me back over the years (and miles: we're so far away now, I wish we were closer) – and it continues to be a template I look toward; hoping that I might be able to emulate some of that grace in my own life to give my own daughter something to remember.

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