My stepmother was looking through the book Moments: The Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographs by Hal Buell and David Halberstam. She noted that most of the photos were powerful and intense depictions of sadness and she began to compare her life to the lives of the people in those photos, thinking how easy she has it.
My stepmom is a saint who has been pretty much the sole caretaker of a number of elderly relatives. Currently she has one remaining dear one to look after – her very elderly mother who has been in the hospital lately. Although many nights my stepmom wearily bemoans her life sacrificed to others’ needs, by morning she seems refreshed and ready to love anew. I don’t know how she does it… year after year, often with several needy souls at the same t
ime.
She says this life is her choice, and she knows how her choices make an important impact on the lives of others. “How often would any of you want to sit for hours on end in the hospital while spring blooms and gardens call and there is so much to do?” But, she says, “I guess it is time to go to bed with a prayer of thanks and blessing for my Mom. She is more precious than any spring time flowers.”
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