Originally published February 9, 2014 on http://www.thespin.blog.com
Once there was a young girl who was destined to create great things.
She was smart and beautiful and talented. She could paint a picture with her music and tell a story with her paints. She was filled with faith in God and joy in life. This girl was proud but not arrogant. She was proper but not prude.
When she laughed, it rose up from the depth of her soul and when she loved, it came from the bottom of her heart.
Her world was wide open.
She would be an ambassador, perhaps, to promote civil negotiations between her country and its neighbors. She believed in fairness, justice and equality. She might even be president of her country to make sure that her people lived in peace and prosperity. So she began learning things that an ambassador should know, studying languages and filling her head with Spanish and English and French. The she added a little German for good measure.
Maybe she would be a famous singer and bring her music to the world. She danced and sang every day. She sang to the birds in the treetops as she did her chores and danced between rows of fruit trees until the sun went down. She performed at parties for family and friends and then at galas for generals and dignitaries. Being a musician was definitely a possibility.
But then, she could also be an artist. She doodled beautiful birds in the margins of all her school books. Hummingbirds, parrots, and pudgy little lovebirds fluttered around the pages. She sketched all the dresses she wanted to fill her closet with and designed the wedding dress that she dreamed to wear one day.
Maybe she would be an engineer or…a doctor. A surgeon that would figure out medical mysteries and perform life-saving operations. She was certainly smart enough.
But she was also beautiful enough to be a beauty queen. What an honor it would be to represent her country on a Miss Universe stage! She would cry just a little as she accepted the crown and her whole country would cheer.
Which amazing path should she choose? Which talent should she follow? What a wonderful dilemma to have!
She decided to follow her heart. Her heart was full of faith and hope and love. So as her adventure began, she married and had a daughter and two sons. She left her country, her home, her mother and went to a new land where she was seen as an oddity because of the color of her skin, not light enough or dark enough to quite fit in anywhere.
But she knew she was destined for greatness. She still believed in fairness and equality and she would teach her children to believe in it, too. She was still proud, especially of her brand new addition – a little girl.
When her heart was broken, she still believed in love and she found it again. She added one more little girl to her brood.
When her heart was broken once more, she didn’t let it break her. Instead she let music heal her home and mend her heart. She drew pictures of birds and dresses and flowers to make her children smile. She let them see that they were beautiful but she made sure they stayed humble. They knew that they were smart but she didn’t let them get arrogant.
She taught them to dance.
She gave them the strength to be fighters and the tenderness to be lovers. She taught them to embrace adventure and the wind in their hair while riding a motorcycle. She taught them to fish and to not give up when the fish weren’t biting.
She gave them faith.
She laughed and it filled her children’s souls. She loved and it filled their hearts.
When her home emptied of children, she refilled it with God. She brought His word to those with open hearts and shared His promise of peace. She sang praises to Him and drew pictures of what His kingdom might look like here on earth.
She studied more languages so that she could teach anyone she met about the bible. She devoted the rest of her life to serving him and serving others.
Then the day came when she began looking back on what her life had been instead of what it might be. She wasn’t an ambassador or an artist. She wasn’t a beauty queen or surgeon or world famous singer.
She had been destined to create great works and destiny had failed her.
All the things that had filled her beautiful mind and her wonderful heart began to desert her. They left her lonely and afraid. They left her lost.
As the light grew dim, she looked at the five strangers gathered around her with love and sadness in their eyes. She wondered why they should have so much pain and she wanted to comfort them as a mother would comfort her own children.
It was then that she recognized them. These strangers, these children…no, HER children. THESE were her great works.
These were her GREATEST works!
They were beauty queens and fighters for justice. They were amazingly intelligent and artistically gifted. They were joyful and generous, loyal and kind. Music fed their spirits and dancing freed their souls.
She remembered the first shiny white shoes of a gorgeous little blonde headed girl. And she remembered that same little girl giving her brother a haircut for their family portrait. She remembered praying at the bedside of her too-adventurous son. She remembered shopping for wedding dresses and dancing at weddings. She remembered building congregations from the ground up and then filling them with worship. Homecoming courts, football games, awards assemblies, art shows, school plays – she remembered it all!
She remembered grandbabies. THIRTEEN of them! And two wonderful great-grandsons.
SHE REMEMBERED.
She remembered the sound of their laughter filling her home.
And she remembered their love.
She was no longer lonely. She was no longer afraid. She was no longer lost. She knew that she was exactly where she was supposed to be. Her heart was full. Her work was done.
So she slept.
Once there was a young girl who was destined to create great things.
Once there was an old lady who fulfilled her destiny.
In loving memory of my mother
Aquilina Demaris Flores Martinez Ward Roberts
January 22, 1941 – February 9, 2014
The Way I Remember It 