Life Lesson Month of March: Blog 4- Letters from Mom & Mimi

Good Morning Ellie and Happy Birthday!

And what a beautiful day it is!  I don’t know why but for me, seeing a picture perfect blue sky raises my spirits by many levels and also encourages my daydreaming.  But I guess I need to stay on task and start focusing on a lesson I have learned this week.  OK.  Here goes…

Life Lesson Learned #4:  Not everything can be fixed

Believe it or not Ellie I have tried starting this blog a half dozen times, but I’m having trouble finding the right words to portray what my heart wants to share with you.  I guess that is because of a recent tragedy that took place within our extended family.  But before I explain that, an incident concerning you came to mind, which triggered another thought with a similar subject matter involving me, followed suit.  And to categorize these three very different stories yet similar with a “Please fix it” solution hasn’t been easy.  I guess I should start with my story of you.

A couple of weeks ago, when you came to play we went downstairs to make some crafts.  I got out some colorful construction paper, colored pencils, letter stickers, googlie eyes and cut up paper designs along with a glue stick to create your masterpiece.  All seemed to go quite well until you held up your beautiful creation, and the googlie eyes fell off.  You looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes of yours and sniffled, “Mimi can you fix it?”  Not wanting to see you cry, I quickly went and got the Elmer’s Glue Bottle and gave you free reign to use it how you saw fit.  Your spirit lifted immediately.  And let’s just say while watching you squeeze the death out of that bottle… well, my own eyes in my very own head went all googlie!  Ellie, all you really needed was a ‘dot’ as the eyes were only a half-inch round.  But I guess to a three year old a ‘lake’ of white goo is a far better way of guaranteeing a permanently fixed picture (I did have to do some fast talking though to convince you that it would take a little bit of time to dry and then distract you into playing something else so you wouldn’t get upset)!  Good thing too because that precious picture of yours took more than a day to harden and thankfully was ‘fixed.’

Another memory has come to mind that I would like to share with you.  It is another glue story, but this time it’s about me and my life lesson learned.  It happened a few years ago (and yes I was an adult).  I was holding a beautiful china teacup that I loved, and no longer remembering why, I accidentally dropped it.  Luckily it did not shatter in a million pieces but rather in one clean crack down its middle.  Heartbroken and not wanting to throw it away I went for the ‘quick fix’.  Super Glue.  Now keep in mind that stuff is translucent while I continue this story.   On my first, second and third try I poured the glue on one side of the cups broken edge and attached it to the other side of the broken cup but it kept slipping off.   Becoming impatient and not seeing just how much Super Glue I actually poured on that darn thing, I tried once more.  That time I wrapped my left hand around the cup to hold it securely in place while it dried.  Within a few minutes, the cup became whole again, both sides permanently cemented together with an added part… my thumb!  When your Poppy came home from work that day my first instinct was to hide my hand and the cup behind my back (like a child), but not being born a right-handed person and only being able to use my right-hand during this awkward moment … well, I had to come clean.  And besides, I needed Poppy’s help to ‘fix’ my mistake.  Luckily for me he did Ellie, and my newly freed thumb was only sore for a day or two!

And now I shall share with you my third story.  This is the one that got me to thinking about my life lesson learned this past week.  Not everything that is broken can be fixed.   You see Ellie a very dear relative of ours, Aunt Nancy, passed away unexpectedly a few weeks ago while vacationing in Florida.   Even though she sustained some serious injuries from a fall, everyone at the hospital was very optimistic that she would have a full recovery.  But after the surgery, her health went into a slow decline.   Your Uncle Doug, who is a brilliant doctor, would not give up on her.  He fought for the family and made sure that those in charge of her care explored every option to give her the best possible chance at healing.  And while all this was going on Ellie, his own father who was in failing health was admitted to the same hospital.  So your Uncle Doug, the dedicated doctor and son that he is, stayed strong around the clock and did everything humanly possible to help improve the quality of his dad’s health too.  He along with Aunt Nancy’s family and friends and also his own family and friends, the attending physicians, all the love, the prayers, the get-well wishes and cards, in the end nothing could ‘fix’ either of them.   Their bodies were just too tired or too broken to fight their way back to us.  And then something wonderful happened.  God intervened, took away their pain and brought them home with him.  HE ‘fixed’ them.

So I guess the Life Lesson Learned here Ellie is that not everything nor everyone can be fixed, but we should always give it our very best.  Scraped knees and boo-boos can be kissed away and fixed with a band-aide.  A favorite stuffed animal, torn and tattered can be fixed with a needle and a thread.  A failed relationship can be fixed by a night out with your best girlfriends.  A forgotten houseplant can be fixed with a drink of water.  And for all those ‘things’ and also for all those who we love that can no longer be fixed for reasons that we don’t always understand, we need to listen with our hearts and Trust in our God.   HE will let us know when to let go.   After all, “fixing” is HIS specialty and only HE knows what is best for each of us.

I love you Ellie-bean!

And again, Happy, Happy Birthday!

May all your wishes come true today and everyday my little princess!

Love, Mimi