Enough

Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport They had announced the departure.

Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, 'I love you and I wish you enough'.

The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom'.

They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'.

Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.

'I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said.

'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?'.

She began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone'. She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more 'When we said , ' I wish you enough', we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them'. Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bi gger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

She then began to cry and walked away.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them.

TAKE TIME TO LIVE....

To all my friends and loved ones,
I WISH YOU ENOUGH.

Merlyn

The smell of rain

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery. Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon of March 10, 1991 complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilouslypremature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. "I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could. "There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be avery cruel one" Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if shesurvived.

She would never walk, she would never talk, she would
probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to
other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to
complete mental retardation, and on and on. "No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love.

All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the
ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.

At last, when Dana turned two months old. her parents
were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time.
And two months later, though doctors continued to gently
but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much
less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana
went home from the hospital, just as her mother had
predicted.

Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young
girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for
life. She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or
physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the
end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her
home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap
in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother
Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other
adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Doyou smell that?" Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain." Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?" Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain." Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly
announced, "No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest." Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children.

Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed
what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along.
During those long days and nights of her first two months
of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to
touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is
His loving scent that she remembers so well.

Children's Bill of Rights

My son came home from school one day, with a smirk upon his face.
He decided he was smart enough, to put me in my place. 'Guess what I learned in Civics Two, that's taught by Mr. Wright? It's all about the laws today, The Children's Bill of Rights.' It says I need not clean my room, don't have to cut my hair

No one can tell me what to think, or speak, or what to wear. I have freedom from religion, and regardless what you say, I don't have to bow my head, and I sure don't have to pray.I can wear earrings if I want, and pierce my tongue & nose. I can read & watch just what I like, Get tattoos from head to toe. And if you ever spank me,

I'll charge you with a crime. I'll back up all my charges, with the marks on my behind. Don't you ever touch me, My body's only for my use, Not for your hugs and kisses, that's just more child abuse. Don't preach about your morals, Like your Mama did to you. That's nothing more than mind control, And it's illegal too! Mom, I have these children's rights,
So you can't influence me,
Or I'll call ? Children's Services Division', Better known as? CSD'

"Mom's Reply and Thoughts"

Of course my first instinct was to toss him out the door. But the chance to teach him a lesson made me think a little more. I mulled it over carefully,
I couldn't let this go.

A smile crept upon my face, he's messing with a pro. Next day I took him shopping at the local Good Will Store.. I told him, Pick out all you want, there's shirts & pants galore'. I've called and checked with CSD who said they didn't care If I bought you K-Mart shoes Instead of those Nike Airs. I've canceled that appointment To take your driver's test. The CSD is unconcerned so I'll decide what's best.

' I said 'No time to stop and eat, Or pick up stuff to munch. And tomorrow you can start to learn to make your own sack lunch. Just save the raging appetite, and wait till dinner time. We're having liver and onions, A favorite dish of mine.' He asked 'Can I please rent a movie, to watch on my VCR?' 'Sorry, but I sold your TV, for new tires on my car. I also rented out your room, You'll take the couch instead. The CSD requires Just a roof over your head.

Your clothing won't be trendy, I'll choose what we eat. That allowance that you used to get, will buy me something neat I'm selling off your jet ski, Dirt-bike & roller blades. Check out the 'Parents Bill of Rights', It's in effect today! Hey hot shot, are you crying, why are you on your knees? Are you asking God to help you out, Instead of CSD?

Live, Love, Laugh.....