Still Listening

It’s so unfortunate that death is sometimes the prerequisite for listening to great wisdom.  Sounds morbid I’m sure, but it’s true in my case.  It’s almost as if my mom – dead for over 30 years – has morphed into my mind and body.  I find myself  spreading mom’s extensive verbal library of knowledge  that 40 years earlier had me rolling my eyes. Now all that wisdom that has been absorbed and is being passed down daily to anyone that will listen.

Rose’s Don’t Forget Moments:

1. You are a Collins girl.  My mother telling me and my sisters that we are Collins girls is synonymous with being a Rockefeller or a Kennedy with out the fortune.  There were certain expectations that came along with our Collins heritage.  A Collins girl always carried herself in a respectful manner.  Never to bring any shame to the Collins name.  The most important aspect of being a Collins girl is your appearance.  Quote – “No one knows what you have if you look good”.
2. All men are liars.  A direct bible quote.  I remember my mom and my future husband debating this quote.  His view was that the word men encompassed all humans – both men and women.  My brilliant mother’s comeback was always, “you don’t add to the bible and you don’t take away from the bible”  If Jesus said men that’s what he meant.  How can you argue with that logic?
3. The only man you can really trust is Jesus!  Self explanatory.
4. You can plan all you want, but you really have no control.  God can plan and God can unplan.
5. God don’t like ugly and really don’t care too much for pretty.
6.  Don’t wait for things you want.   Never wait for Christmas Day presents.  You may not make it, enjoy your presents now.
7. One day you will really miss your mother.  You will hear a quiet song in your ear – If I could hear my mother pray again – repeating over and over.
8. Peaches (my forever nickname), I only pray for you to have good health.  Everything else you can get on your own.

When you have a mother like Rose everything about her lives.  Her words, her style and her spirit is threaded through me, my siblings, my spouse and my children.  We are stronger just by knowing what she endured.  It couldn’t have been easy being born in 19XX (she would kill me if I disclosed her age) in Mississippi.  If she didn’t complain and was able to soar through racism, death of parents, death of only child (will explain in a follow-up story), first  grandchild, and first great grandchild, who am I to complain about anything life throws my way. Her legacy to me is that I am strong enough to survive anything.