A Christmas Song About Mother's Shoes

Today began as any other day…it ended with a very important message. Feeling a bit melancholy and just wanting the holidays to be over, this day was slowly turning into a day with many little nuisances making their points.

Almost every person we came in contact with was annoying and it was getting to a point where my attitude may snap at any moment. People were being rude and oblivious to anything but themselves. There would be justification on my side since they were the ones being judgmental and not in the holiday spirit.

To make matters even worse, the weather took a drastic turn, the wind picked up and it was a cold and frigid, especially for Phoenix. For a Friday night the show was slow which made for plenty of time to just sit and think…then it happened.

A Christmas song came on that has always made me cry and this time was not any different except not only did I cry but it was also like reading a book, pages of our lives turning as I read the events. Life changed drastically for us back on Christmas day in 2001 when the news of my baby brother being as sick as he was became apparent.

Before that Christmas, I looked forward to my birthday in October when the chain of good fortune always began for me and continued through the New Year. This time of the year always brought out the best of us, we decorated extensively and always tried to do the right thing for all concerned. That year changed my entire thinking process and as hard as I tried to focus on the good things…the bad things continued to happen. A few short months after that Christmas, my youngest brother passed away…a little over a year later, my mother passed away…a month later my sister and I severed our relationship and she began persecution of us in a very nasty way, even for her…shortly after my daughter took her son, my grandson away from us because she was angry at my terribly misdirected outburst…another brother passed away. Life had always been a little tough for us but nothing prepared us for all of this to happen, all the time we were one inch away from losing it all. We continued to play the roles we thought we had to live by but that soon began to take a toll on our own self-esteem and the reason we looked into our hearts to find the way to follow our dream lifestyle. During this time we became full time RVers which is the only thing that kept us from hitting rock bottom.

It’s amazing how you can look back and see your life as if it was a book you were reading and wonder how you ever made it through, but we did. Not only did we make it through all of those hard times, we also have come to a time in our lives where we no longer accept the mediocre, instead we go after our very best and we usually find it. Life has given us many opportunities to grow from lately and we have stood up to the test and have passed with flying colors. Everyday is still challenging but we get better at living our lives to the fullest with a lot help from God.