Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Poewr: Monday Manna

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Happy Monday Manna! Mondays seem to roll around faster and faster week-by-week. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard the classic line, “The older you get, the faster it goes!”

It wasn’t until recently that I realized that there is a lot of truth behind this saying. It seems like it was just yesterday that my mother was literally carrying me into my preschool's “Meet and Greet Day.” She was wearing a colorful sundress and I remember hiding my face in her shoulder as she attempted to sit me at the table with all of the other students in class. At the end of the day I hadn’t made any friends, so I sat alone underneath the playground slide where I had a perfect view of the whole parking lot. I knew she was coming at 4:30PM and when I saw that big red van coming into Christ the King’s parking lot, I was overwhelmed with joy and relief! So maybe I had a minor case of separation anxiety, but who could blame me? My mom was super-woman and she still is.

After my father had passed -- I was eleven years old -- my mother took on the role of head of household. Like any single mom, there is a massive learning curve involved when raising two adolescent boys. She kept us regimented. Our weekly five a.m. water polo and swim practices were NEVER missed and we could always count on a warm, home cooked meal on the table at 7 p.m. We were a team. As I got older I realized that our family dynamic was different than most.

When my mother married her second husband Dave Austin, I was ecstatic. I knew that Dave would be the new father figure in my life and I had a lot of catching up to do as it had been years since having a dad. I also knew that Dave would provide for my mother; that is until the unexpected happened. When we received that phone call that Dave had crashed on his motorcycle and was transported to the Arrowhead Regional’s I.C.U, we all were in disbelief. Dave passed away two days later after suffering from a pulmonary embolism that had originated from a major bone fracture in his femur. My mother was in shock and I was in denial. Even seeing Dave lying there on the hospital gurney, after he was coded, I spoke to him as if he were playing a joke on us. How could this happen again…?

Just like before, we were alone. But we were a force to be reckoned with! We cleaned together, cooked together, ran together, laughed together, and cried together. We had each others' backs and we could count on one another for anything. It was that way for many, many years but then change took place once again: My mother remarried – it’s been approximately seven years now -- and I moved out, got married, and started a new life with my wonder bride, Kayla. Life was busy for all of us and one day blurred into the next.

About a year ago, during a hectic time of buying our first home, mom called and she asked me how I was doing. We actually hadn’t spoken in months. I was so busy with my new job and with moving into our new house that I hadn’t taken the initiative to contact her. When I explained how busy I’d been, there was a pause, and I heard her begin to cry over the phone. She said that she missed the way things used to be. After all, we were the “unstoppable duo.” We had been through everything together.

She always apologizes after she cries, which I find funny, and she did just that. She reminded me of Matthew 19:4-6 – “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So then, they are no longer two but one flesh; therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.” And as she recited this verse I began to have flashbacks of all the memories we shared together. I broke down too, and told her I loved her. My mother has always been my biggest fan and vice versa. Mothers will never know the long-lasting impact they will have on their children.

This writing would have been most appropriate for mother’s day, but to all you mothers who are reading this- You will never know how much you have impacted the lives of your children. A good mother exemplifies a Christ-like love and I believe that God has a special place in heaven for you. God Bless You!

In His Love,
 
P.S. Join Steve & Evinda for more relationship revelations on How to Love Who You Love on Blog Talk Radio! Just click on the link to listen when you can! Show airs at 1:00 Pacific time! www.blogtalkradio.com/Chicklit-Power

Garrett Castro