This is a photo I will always treasure with my beautiful Mom. She’s living in North Carolina and I don’t get to see her often. This was taken at a favorite place of mine in Pinehurst, North Carolina at the Carolina Hotel on the front porch. The azaleas were in bloom and it was about this time of year in April of 2010 as I recall when I had returned for a visit and to gather my belongings prior to relocating to Central Oregon.
The Carolina Hotel reminds me of the old plantations in the south and I am sure that was intended and it has been there for almost 100 years. Memories are fabulous. Oh, you say, if they are good ones! We all have good and bad memories don’t we? Sometimes they get mixed up in our minds and we can’t separate the good from the not so good.
We can choose to dwell on the good or bad memories. For so many years I could not see the good in a lot of my memories and only felt sadness and pain. Oftentimes it was due to poor decision making on my part so guilt came into play. Then I learned how to turn it around and see the good that has come from positive and negative decisions.
When I look at this picture, I see the wonderful woman who raised me through some not so pretty times in her life but she carried herself and was strong. I see many pictures I have down through the years where she isn’t smiling and probably could not smile. She always said that I was the one who smiled in all our family photos and that seems to be the case often. I can’t explain why but I know I got a lot of my strength and resilience from Mom.
My life is not perfect. Who’s is? Looking at some people we may think that is the case but it never is. We have no idea what people have gone through to be where they are and it is so important to take a step back before we judge. As a matter of fact, judgement is unnecessary.
I love, love, love looking at old photos and going down memory lane. Another part of this memory is that I was smelling the pink azalea bushes in front of us, sitting next to my Mom, looking into the camera and all I could do was smile. Even though the relationship I was headed towards didn’t come out as planned, it is all working out for me.
Take a trip down your memory lane and find some beauty in there. It’s there! As I write this, I’m hearing the birds sing their songs as loud as they can, a train is roaring in the distance, the spring breeze is coming through the open windows in my home and I’m home. How I got here? Another time......
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