on nurturing women

Aunt EloDean

I attended my Aunt EloDean Herzogs' funeral today.  (03-23-2011)  In the last 12 months, I have lost three important women in my upbringing.  Aunt Colleen Wildman, my mother and now Aunt Elo.  Count yourself lucky if you have been raised by good women.  

At work today I remembered a quote from Robert F. Kennedy.  He was in Indianapolis Indiana the day Martin Luther King was murdered.  He was running for president at the time.  He was urged by his friends not to go to the rally.  It was in a very rough neighborhood.  In part of his speech he quoted the following.

'My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: 

"Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget 

falls drop by drop upon the heart, 

until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom 

through the awful grace of God." '

You may ask, what does this have to do with nurturing women?

 I am not sure. 

No one would say my Mom was a saint, but she was not a devil.

She was a girl that married too young and grew up with her children.

I remained deeply angry with my mother until a year ago this last month, when after my Aunt Collen's  funeral.   I went and had a long talk with her.  I told her as child I was deeply hurt but as a parent I understood her actions.

As I continue to mourn my mothers death, I think of the many lessons her actions helped me to learn,

Grace, Mercy, Love, Compassion,  Patience, Percipience.

For years I have hated Mother's Day.  It was not a good day to be around me or in my Home.  Listening to the hymn "Love at Home" would me screaming from the room.  a little like fingernails on the chalk board.  

Offering to carry my Mother's burden lightened my own.  Offering her Mercy granted me the Grace to grow.

My mother spent the last years of her life in a self imposed prison of diabetes and obesity.  After we spoke last year my mother's spirits lifted and she endured better the time that remained.    

Voyle Bassett

What does this have to do with Aeschylus, I am not sure other then now I am free.  Mother's day will be much happier around my house this year and I requested "Love at Home" as the closing song at my mother's funeral.

Goodbye Mom, I love you and look forward to seeing you gain

per·cip·i·ent  (pr-sp-nt)
1. adj. Having the power of perceiving, especially perceiving keenly and readily.
2. noun. One that perceives.