She gave me a hug with tears in her eyes, so pleased that I had found a simple trinket. To her it has meaning I cannot fathom. A simple cross of no real value.
It had been missing some five years when I moved my two bedroom home from Idaho and my mother's one bedroom apartment into a three bedroom apartment in California.
The boxes were piled up, and with all the daily activity there never seemed any time to unpack and purge. Little did I know that somewhere among all the quickly packed and haphazard storage was a simple trinket that held so much meaning to my mother.
She never mentioned it. It being just another item among the many.
In an effort to Reclaim the year, and my home, I began the slow and tedious process of rummaging through the unused and unwanted, choosing and then discarding a duplicate, and donating so many unneeded items from all those boxes.
My heart aches at all the cross-stitch supplies and half finished projects among all the clutter. My mother longingly pets the fabric and tries to see her stitches by placing up to her nose. No longer will she be able to enjoy a craft she was so good at. Even with the knowledge of blessing another with bolts of thread and fabric we are still filled with melancholy at the parting.
Finally after two hours of sifting and sneezing I see the bottom of a box, and there it is. It's mingling with odds and ends destined for the trash. It's chain is knotted and tangled, so I painstakingly straighten it. Giving it to my son, he proudly presents it to my mother.
The smile on her face does much to lift my spirits. The happiness is unexplainable. After years of having things taken away due to her blindness and declining health, here is a simple trinket for her to keep forever.
She holds it to her heart as our eyes meet. There's a simple understanding between mother and daughter.
Occasionally I watch as she fingers the precious treasure. Remembering the meaning of a simple cross and the One who forsake His life on it. Her faith is strong even as her body grows weaker. What a wonderful gift she has passed to me, a love for God that's bright in her unseeing eyes.
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