Thankfully, most of these last years she has walked on her own, remembered her loved ones, spoke with clarity and grace, loved her children, her grandchildren and her great grand children and spoiled them to perfection.
She is my grandfather's baby sister and has been a staple in my life since I was very young. Though this side of the family lives in Arkansas, we always gather for weddings and babies and funerals. This Thursday we will gather again and celebrate a century of love and family.
To give you a glimpse of who she is, let me relate the most vivid memory I have tonight. Joey and I had been married for almost two years and we were pregnant with Taylor. He was coaching American Legion baseball and the team had a tournament in Stuttgart, Arkansas. On our way to the tournament, we stopped in Little Rock to have dinner with Maezie and our Arkansas family. The dining room table lay properly set for company adorned with a fine white linen table cloth. From the entry way, I could tell the cloth held stitches, but it wasn't until we sat down for dinner that I could tell what each stitch said. Every family member who visited, who sat at the table, who prayed and shared a meal had written his and her names in the table cloth. After the dishes had been cleared and the leftovers put away, Maezie had retrieved the linen cloth from the table and embroidered each name by hand covering the ink with a delicate, intentional stitching. She invited Joey and I to sign our names that evening.
I don't know where the table cloth is today, and really, I probably cherish the memory more. It binds me to such a significant lesson about family and taking the time to craft the small intricate stitches that tie us all together.
Thankful Aunt Maezie's name is stitched on a table in heaven tonight - trusting the hugs she shared with her loved ones who beat her there were just as intricately woven.
#golighttheworld