What’s really Important?

Writing for publication—for others to read is a great deal more difficult than just writing to vent or keeping a private journal. Every time I write a line, I think about how it will be received or how I will be perceived.

Having said that, I will just write whatever comes to mind and think about how it is received at a later date. This comment reminds me that I used to say to my students. “Just write your thoughts about the subject without worrying about punctuation, spelling, or anything else. Then go back and edit and correct on the second draft.”

I would ponder the gift of children and family. My daughter Vicki and my son Houston, known as “Tex” to everybody except immediate family, have made us so proud. They are both successful professionals in the music and education worlds. They love and serve the Lord and are known and loved by many. I also love their spouses. If I had been choosing mates for each of them, I could not have chosen better.

Many years ago when I held my first grandchild in my arms and felt that velvety soft body close next to my heart, I had a revelation: “Now I know why women were put on this earth—to love and nurture children.” Every time I held or hold one of my babies in my arms, I still think the same thing. Nothing else is so soft or brings such a wonderful rush of love and wonder.

Each time I had a child, my father-in-law would say he was a “rich” man.
He was rich in the love of family, and he knew it. It still hurts my heart that
he did not live to see his great grandchildren. Sometimes my husband Dan and
I reminisce about him and wonder how rich he would have been to have had five great grandchildren. It would have made his heart sing to have experienced
that.