For the best there ever was

On Friday Billie June will be 86 years old and we will celebrate. We will celebrate a life lived through good times and bad, through plenty and want, through joyous births and tragic loss. Of all the people I've known in my life, she's been the MOST consistent person I've ever met. She's always been loving, serving, generous, pleasant, encouraging, fun, fun loving and magnetic. Her magnetism has forever drawn people to her by her amazing ability to love no matter what. It's a God given gift and she's used it well. All in all I'd say God's best work was accomplished in her. I know He's pleased. 

She's had to wear lots of hats throughout her life, many she never wanted or asked for, and she did a great job throughout it all. When she met her husband while working in a little drugstore in Corsicana Texas, she never could have imagined living her life in a small city in northeast Louisiana. But once they settled in and began having children, she worked to make a stylish home while raising her kids. But as life can, it took a dramatic and unexpected turn in 1967 when Dad had a heart attack and she had to take over everything. And I mean everything. At that time he was told to quietly recuperate for months with no stress of any kind. 

So she found herself unemployed with a sick husband she couldn't confide in due to reducing his stress, and six stress free children. Yeah right....remember, she had a child named Dale. Two years later, and in desperate need of making money, she and Dad embarked on opening a restaurant to support their family. So at the age of forty, she was forced to put on her businesswoman hat and go make a living. And there began the restaurant years. Personally I can't say those were my favorite years, but we're not talking about me. But for as many as 20 years, she and Big Frank scratched out a living as best they could. And even though the restaurant wasn't really fun, it's where she made her mark on people. Because if Mom hadn't been in that place every day for people to meet her and get to know her,  she'd never have been able to impact their lives the way she did. I know lots of people came to see her smiling face as much as they came for a hamburger. 

Then the restaurant closed and she and Big Frank "retired" or more so took on the role of resident babysitters for their many grandchildren here in town as well as Shreveport. Through those years they forged the most important treasured relationships while making memories to last a lifetime. Our kids lovingly reminisce about spaghetti lunches and Oreos and  trips to TCBY and ice cream for breakfast. That's what grandparents do best, ingrain sweet memories in the hearts of their grandchildren. 

And here's not the time to go into the loss of her firstborn son and granddaughter, except to say she did it with grace and trust and faith in God. And by doing so, she showed the rest of us that no matter what may come, we are to NEVER stop trusting God. In spite of tragedy, she's faithfully prayed for all of us every day of our lives. I know God hears every one of hers prayers. 

It seems to me these days people throw the word hero around to describe many who don't really deserve it. Just because you can successfully dunk a basketball or score a touchdown isn't near enough credentials to call someone a hero. To me, heroes look like soldiers and teachers and policemen and nurses and doctors, as well as everyday citizens who work day in and day out to provide for their families. They also look like Billie June. A woman who trusted God faithfully, served her family unfailingly, and in turn earned the love and respect of those blessed enough to have called her Mother, grandmother or great grandmother. Most certainly after her, He broke the mold.  

This picture will always be my favorite. 

The happiest of birthdays to my beautiful mother. 

Love, 
Your favorite.