It started out many years ago. When my Momma met my Daddy and fell in Love and then they got married. All of a sudden the next thing they knew…they were starting a family and oh how it grew. First there came three girls, a set of twin boys, and six years later came another bundle of joy. Oh how happy they were as a family. It was hard work but they knew what to do. They put it in God’s hands and he would get them through.
All the hot summers the kids played in the creek. And all the cold winters Momma made quilts to cover us from our head to our feet. They were made with Love with Momma’s own hands. They were so much better than those store bought brands.
We had the best of everything as you can see. Until my Daddy got sick and God took him to Heaven to set the illness free. Now he’s an Angel watching over me. No more pain and no more sorrow, now he’s an Angel watching over us today, tonight, and all of our tomorrows.
Momma would take me to the top of the hill every day. To go visit with Daddy with fresh flowers we picked along the way. She wrote poems and cried a lot. She prayed and prayed and God healed her broken heart. There she was with three young children at home. She never gave up she did it alone.
Sometimes when the boys got out of hand Momma would tell them to go to the tree and put one in hand. They knew what to do and brought one back it was a little shabby the smaller of the stack. Momma just grinned and picked one of her own. Lit their behinds up and set on her throne. We learned how to listen and we all still do. With the help of that apple tree the lessons we knew. Honor your Mother and Father the Bible says. We learned our lesson that – that apple tree sheds.
She raised a big garden we lived off the land. My little Momma worked it with her own two hands. They cracked and they bled but she never gave up. She canned, cooked, and baked so we always had enough.
She knelt down on her knees to pray every night. For God to watch over us with his guiding light. She gave God praise and thanked him again and asked him for the strength to do it all over again. If would ask then how did you do it? She would answer by saying “The grace of God he carried me through it!”
Toni, daughter
