Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Take Care

I'll tell you one thing my mom taught me and that is to be thankful for what you have and take care of it.

When I was little we did not have a lot of money. My mom worked very hard to provide for me and my sister. For a good part of my childhood we lived in a 2 bedroom/1 bath duplex. It was simple and basic but my biggest memory of that house is that every Saturday we cleaned that place. My mom had us Pledge the furniture. We would Windex the glass. We would vacuum the carpets. We would clean the bathroom. We would straighten our bedrooms. Then we'd get dressed up and go shopping in Dallas and go out to eat at Denny's after. Nothing like a Grand Slam after a hard day's work.

We took care of that house. It was modest and it was always clean. We always had lamps on and we loved each other there. That was the house I grew up in and my mom made it home not because of things but because of the memories we had there. She taught us a valuable lesson: be thankful for what you have and take care of it.

I wanted to share this story today because it does not matter if you look around and things are less than perfect in your eyes. Take care of what we do have and make your surroundings HOME.

6 comments:

Paige said...

AMEN & AMEN! I love that story. Thank you SO much for sharing. I hope that Cary and I teach our children to be thankful and take care.

Unknown said...

So true! Great advice from your mom!!!

:) T

Anonymous said...

Sweetie - this is really beautiful. (i should've splurged on some waterproof Voluminous this morning!!).

And a great reminder - we may not have much, or feel like we have much to offer, but God can use a caring and generous spirit to touch lives in ways we can hardly imagine.

I miss those days; they passed way too quickly.

I love You much,
Y'Mama

Nic said...

AMEN SISTER!!!

The Spunky Kiwi said...

Wow Anna! That is exactly how I remember it too. Those were some good times. And as bad as I hated the cleaning--- I sure loved me some Dallas and Dennys! And I love you and mom too- a whole lot!

Anonymous said...

Great word from Teresa. I always knew she was a smart lady. My Dad and Mom taught us the same thing.
Barb