Subj: Thoughts-Warm-Supp (Gz)
(Includes 7 jokes and articles)
Sun from
Accent on Animation
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Subj: Thoughts-Warm-Supp (Gz) (Includes 7 jokes and articles) |
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Sun from Accent on Animation |
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Subj: Passing
The Shirt (S392b)
From: DafterLafter on 7/25/2004
Warning: This is not a joke, but instead a warm story.
The Yellow shirt The baggy yellow
shirt had long sleeves,
four extra-large pockets trimmed
in black thread and snaps
up the front. It was faded
from years of wear, but still
in decent shape. I found
it in 1963 when I was home from
college on Christmas break,
rummaging through bags of
clothes Mom intended to give
away.
"You're not taking that old thing,
are you?" Mom said when
she saw me packing the yellow
shirt. "I wore that when I
was pregnant with your brother
in 1954!" "It's just the
thing to wear over my clothes
during art class, Mom.
Thanks!" I slipped it into my
suitcase before she could
object. The yellow shirt became
a part of my college
wardrobe. I loved it.
After graduation, I wore the shirt
the day I moved into my new
apartment and on Saturday
mornings when I cleaned.
The next year, I married.
When I became pregnant, I wore
the yellow shirt during big-belly
days. I missed Mom and
the rest of my family, since
we were in Colorado and they
were in Illinois. But that shirt
helped. I smiled,
remembering that Mother had
worn it when she was pregnant,
15 years earlier.
That Christmas, mindful of the
warm feelings the shirt had
given me, I patched one elbow,
wrapped it in holiday paper
and sent it to Mom. When
Mom wrote to thank me for her
"real" gifts, she said the yellow
shirt was lovely. She
never mentioned it again.
The next year, my husband, daughter
and I stopped at Mom
and Dad's to pick up some furniture.
Days later, when we
uncrated the kitchen table,
I noticed something yellow
taped to its bottom. The
shirt! And so the pattern was
set.
On our next visit home, I secretly
placed the shirt under
Mom and Dad's mattress.
I don't know how long it took for
her to find it, but almost two
years passed before I
discovered it under the base
of our living-room floor lamp.
The yellow shirt was just what
I needed now while
refinishing furniture.
The walnut stains added character.
In 1975 my husband and I divorced.
With my three children,
I prepared to move back to Illinois.
As I packed, a deep
depression overtook me.
I wondered if I could make it on my
own. I wondered if I would
find a job. I paged through the
Bible, looking for comfort.
In Ephesians, I read, "So use
every piece of God's armor to
resist the enemy whenever he
attacks, and when it is all
over, you will be standing up."
I tried to picture myself wearing
God's armor, but all I
saw was the stained yellow shirt.
Slowly, it dawned on me.
Wasn't my mother's love a piece
of God's armor? My courage
was renewed.
Unpacking in our new home, I
knew I had to get the shirt
back to Mother. The next
time I visited her, I tucked it in
her bottom dresser drawer. Meanwhile,
I found a good job at
a radio station. A year
later I discovered the yellow shirt
hidden in a rag bag in my cleaning
closet. Something new
had been added. Embroidered
in bright green across the
breast pocket were the words
"I BELONG TO PAT." Not to be
outdone, I got out my own embroidery
materials and added an
apostrophe and seven more letters.
Now the shirt proudly
proclaimed, "I BELONG TO PAT'S
MOTHER." But I didn't stop
there. I zig-zagged all
the frayed seams, then had a friend
mail the shirt in a fancy box
to Mom from Arlington, VA. We
enclosed an official looking
letter from "The Institute for
the Destitute," announcing that
she was the recipient of an
award for good deeds.
I would have given anything to see
Mom's face when she opened the
box. But, of course, she
never mentioned it.
Two years later, in 1978, I remarried.
The day of our
wedding, Harold and I put our
car in a friend's garage to
avoid practical jokers.
After the wedding, while my
husband drove us to our honeymoon
suite, I reached for a
pillow in the car to rest my
head. It felt lumpy. I
unzipped the case and found,
wrapped in wedding paper, the
yellow shirt. Inside a
pocket was a note: "Read John
14:27-29. I love you both,
Mother."
That night I paged through the
Bible in a hotel room and
found the verses: "I am
leaving you with a gift: peace of
mind and heart. And the
peace I give isn't fragile like the
peace the world gives.
So don't be troubled or afraid.
Remember what I told you: I
am going away, but I will come
back to you again. If you really
love me, you will be very
happy for me, for now I can
go to the Father, who is greater
than I am. I have told
you these things before they happen
so that when they do, you will
believe in me."
The shirt was Mother's final
gift. She had known for three
months that she had terminal
Lou Gehrig's disease. Mother
died the following year at age
57. I was tempted to send the
yellow shirt with her to her
grave. But I'm glad I didn't,
because it is a vivid reminder
of the love-filled game she
and I played for 16 years.
Besides, my older daughter is in
college now, majoring in art.
And every art student needs a
baggy yellow shirt with big
pockets.
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Subj: Seven
Wonders Of The World II (S380)
From: drgolfmd on 4/28/2004
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Subj: Short
Warm Thoughts
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From: gattica30 On 12/7/04 |
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Smiley at the window
Imogenelumen |