love, from Mom

Angela - of the big, beautiful eyes, full of wisdom almost from birth, has always been my sunshine. Once when she was just past a newborn, I had a horrible experience and sat sobbing in despair as I rocked her. Gradually I noticed her cooing with great earnestness in my direction. At first I was somewhat stunned because she had never cooed before and she had never been able to focus her eyes this long at any one object. Her eyes, never parting from mine, penetrated to my soul, and peace filled my emptiness as she continued to softly coo. Was it possible that a newborn could actually be comforting her mother? Her eyes had the wisdom of years greater than this earth life, and I felt as if I was holding my superior in age and wisdom, but just in the guise of a baby. Never again in her babyhood did anything of this kind reoccur, but it didn't matter, for I had seen this beautiful girl's eternal soul and I knew I had been granted the gift of raising her to adulthood when she would shed her warmth and wisdom on many as needy as I.

Angela - the mom. As you can imagine from this last story, Angela had a wisdom beyond her years, and a confidence. She took the mom role in our house from a young age, because frankly, she did it the best sometimes. Angela always spoke up when friends or others would take the Lord's name in vain, or do anything else she deemed unseemly. She was so good at this that I soon would use her as my scapegoat, 'cause I was a fraidy cat. Example: Pat's friends are in the house and some of them are using swear words. I call Angie in, explain the situation and send her to handle those terrifying six-year old boys. So my 12 yr. old would march in, gain control of the situation, lovingly chastise, and leave them with the codicil that she would return. This and scenes similar were played out several times through the years from the time Angela was about 6 yrs old. A very capable six.

But what this is all leading up to is this - Angela is perhaps the most amazing mother I have ever been around. Her tone of voice, her wisdom, her different teaching methods, her conflict resolution, her well thought-out approaches, all blow me away. I am in awe. I am humbled. I am so proud. And I am so blessed because I continue to learn daily from her. When I see her with her children, I see the most beautiful woman I know.