Maydelle had a unique spirit all her own. She was a little over five feet tall. She developed her own "style of beauty" as she called it and it came with her share of complexities. Outwardly, she had an sense of OPTIMISM that was often infectious --- and she did have a way of brightening a room that needed it. A friend's first impression of her at a gathering one time in her mid-life always stayed with me. He said, "I watched your mother floating around tonight in her BLUE dress. I felt sure any minute, she would be bursting out to say, "Life is a BIG balloon!"
Her optimism influenced me too. It lifted me up many times, putting heartaches and struggle in their proper perspective, as well as making the possibility of DREAMS coming true something that gave me the COURAGE to try and believe in them.
When she died ... it seems so long ago and yesterday all in one ... I wrote a tribute to her. What I didn't know at the time is how life itself, in the years that followed, would magnify the SIGNIFICANCE and VALUE of the things she instilled in me for which I am so deeply grateful.The excerpt below is from my tribute to her. It defines the most cherished things that bear her fingerprints.
Tribute to my Mother
...an excerpt written when she passed away
There are a number of things I've told you before,
But I want to say them now, too.
I am grateful you were my mother.
I appreciate that you taught me only the highest moral and ethical values;
Which I carry as a most precious gift from you in this life.
I am grateful to know about mutual respect...
Loving others.
Being honest.
The virtue of humility.
The importance of doing one's best.
The difference between right and wrong.
The possibilities in reaching for things I never imagined I could do.
The dignity of being a woman...
If she is up there watching, I know she is very happy to have this acknowledgement.
The choice of BLUE has a significance too.
"I love any color as long as it is BLUE." -- Maydelle
Happy Mother's Day!
Warm regards to all...
Debbe
Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead
Author, Putting Our Differences to Work
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