Mother's Day Reflections...

I've been extraordinarily lucky. When I was born I had 6 grandmothers!  I had Great Grandmother Beulah Helton, Great Grandmother Daisy Lee Pitts, Great Grandmother Lily Hartman, Great Grandmother Lona Mae Harper, Grandmother Mary Helton & Grandmother Mae Nell Hartman and of course, my Mom.  The only one I don't remember is my Great Grandmother Lily Hartman. She died when I was a baby, but I was always told how much she loved me. The rest I have wonderful, rich memories of.  From Great Grandmother Beulah Helton I learned gentleness.  From Great Grandmother Daisy Pitts I learned graciousness.  From Great Grandmother Lona Mae Harper I learned joyfulness. From Grandmother Mae Nell Hartman I learned determination. From Grandmother Mary Helton I learned compassion, and from my Mom I learned perseverance.  From all of them I learned unconditional love, fortitude, patience, ingenuity, creativeness, thoughtfulness, confidence, honesty, loyalty, a love of music and nature, I guess a bit of stubbornness, hope and most importantly faith in God.  I can't imagine why God chose to bless me with so many wonderful women to help raise me, unless perhaps He knew I was gonna need a lot of help to be molded into what He had planned, but I am overjoyed that He did!  Without them, I wouldn't be the person I am today.  I can only hope that I have made them all proud and that one day my children, grandchildren, and hopefully great grandchildren will remember me and the positive things I taught them.  More than anything else, I hope I teach them about God's unconditional love for each of them, because that is eternal.  Happy Mother's Day!