Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Treasure Tuesday

I found this idea over at Faithful Mommy. It's a chance to post about those things that mean something special to you, yet aren't necessarily big ticket items. It's the perfect forum for a sentimental pack rat like myself.








This is a picture that Laura made for me three summers ago. It was the last time our entire family was together. Laura was well, didn't need her oxygen a whole lot, and was able to be outside and go fishing and swim and be "normal". At some point in that week, I got extremely frustrated with Jacob and my sister. At that time my sister's baby was 4 months old, Jacob was two and a terror. Teresa didn't think I was doing a good job in the discipline area so we had words (Now, her three year old is causing her major fits and she agrees she is worse than Jacob ever was so nanny, nanny, boo, boo, told ya so!) and I ended up in tears and wanting to take my boy home. Laura, who always had pen and paper, sat inside and drew me this picture, came outside and rubbed my back, and asked us not to leave because she loved Jacob and us and was having a good time. How could I say no to that? So we stayed the week, the rest of it went well, and I left my picture on a shelf at the lake and never really noticed it again.

I think I mentioned before that we evacuated up to the lake for Hurricane Rita (and ended up getting it there, but that's another story) at the same time Laura was dying in St. Louis. It was a stressful time for me, I was sure our house would be blown away, our friends were stuck in traffic in Houston for over 24 hours, my husband was working out of state, and we just kept waiting for my sister to call to give us the hourly updates. I paced a lot. As I was pacing, about an hour before Laura passed away, I found this picture tucked up on a shelf. It was like my own personal note that everything would be ok. I keep it taped to my dresser mirror so I can see it every day. It's like she is drawing that picture every day, trying to cheer me out of a bad situation like that day at the lake years ago.

Do you want to play? Be sure to link to Faithful Mommy's blog.

2 comments:

Overwhelmed! said...

Hi there! I've discovered you from Faith's blog. What a sweet treasure you've posted. Your story of Laura touched my heart.

When I have a bit more time, I'll read some of your past blogs. I'm a "boymom" as well. :)

I also posted a Tuesday treasure. Stop by and take a look.

andria said...

Faith,

Laura had a rare lung disease, I am still not sure the name of it, but it was a mutation of cystic fibrosis I believe.

Laura and her sister and mother lived in Milton, I couldn't even begin to tell you where though. My sister's inlaws all live in Milton too. She lives in Pensacola. Her baby was born at Sacred Heart and that is where Lauras drs. were. What a small world. We love Pensacola.