Pookie-
You should write a book.
Seriously.
That was beautiful, just beautiful
Well, yellowbike, many people of my generation live very similar lives. Especially “Cajun” girls were taught by their Mothers the value God places on the “self” of a person … that the body is a temple … that God lives there continuously … and that you are to respect God’s temple above all else. You were to be extremely conscience of who you let in. That any desecration to that temple would be the measure my which you would have to live … with your head down forever in submission … or with your head held high forever in respect! Just as given free will so the choice to do the “right thing” was a personal one. To always remember what choice you made … you would have to be the one “alone” to always live with that choice. That was a lesson repeated constantly by my mother … gentle but firmly … so much so … that it became a habit in “thought” that saved me … for today!
Also it didn’t hurt that I went to mass everyday for the first 23 years of my life!! It was what we did … say our evening prayers, go to bed and first thing in the morning slip from under the covers … kneel and say morning prayers, make our beds, dress, and go to God’s house for a visit … before beginning the day. We had fisherman’s mass at 5:30am. It really was quite BEAUTIFUL because we lived in a small town and everyone would be walking to church while still dark … my brother Charles use to carry me on his shoulders when I was small! I am the youngest of ten children. Not everyone in the family could go to mass … some had to be at work or doing chores … but Momma and the younger ones would go.
After mass we would come home, make breakfast for the others, do our chores and then go to school. It was a good life and I am so grateful to God that he gave me to my family in the year of our lord 1938 … one cold and frost morning in November. Actually who I am today really began way back then.
That is why I never forget to say, “by the grace of God” when I claim a “decision” … many blessings have been given to me in order for me to be able to do “the right thing”. And I am well aware from living so long in this world … not everyone has had the advantages I have had. I am not a BETTER person … but just a person, for whatever reason(?), who has been given “gifts” and people in my life to help me along the way. What else can I say,“Thank you JESUS.” If I can help just one young person to see the “light” from the beginning then I will have cast my bread on the water!!!