My Father Loved A Thistle

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"Sunflower" My very first painting 2000.

Die when I may, I want it said by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

Abraham Lincoln
American, President Quotes

My father Mark's wisdom is tested, and true. He is the most noble, honest, loyal, loving and virtuous man I know. I am so proud to call him dad. There was a time in my life I was menacing thistle, but dad had faith in me and what I could become....... And so he plucked that troublesome thorn, then prayed over it. He planted it with a Father's faith, and protected it with all of his love. His prayers brought forth a flower.

LESSONS OF LOVE

My mom loves Bambi! Okay seriously, who doesn't? However, my mother is drenched in the after affects of too much Disney. I am grateful for all of the imagination she birthed in me throughout my life. She saw the softer side of life, and invited me into it. She taught me to accept people the way they were, to love the unloved and the unlovely. Her tender ways planted so many seeds in my heart, and the fruit of those blooms are full of grace. Her short little lessons in love held strong to my soul. Her teachings were like putting on a fuzzy pair of mittens. Once we were out shopping and came across a man in a wheelchair while standing in line. Mom didn't say a word, just gave me that don't stare kind of look. When we left she said, "You see that man in the wheelchair? Well he's just like you, never judge a person for being disabled." (and then I had to ask what disabled meant?) I thought about that man all day, and never forgot him since. The color of that memory hasn't faded into my 40's. The small town I was raised in had a family of Albino people living there. I remember them so distinctively. Not just because of how they looked, but because of the way they were treated. The stares, the whispers, the pointing fingers and because I noticed nobody talked to them. Once while my mother and I saw them in town. She looked at them for a moment, then glanced at me. She whispered, "Aren't they beautiful!"

That's the kind of mother I have. She's a sweet soul! Because of her I learned to search a man's heart before you judge him. She had the ability to see through a child's eyes, and read life with a child's heart. Thanks Mom for the many virtues you instilled within me. I Love You.