A very small bit of payback

When I was a junior in high school, my parents (mom and stepdad, and my brother and sister) moved to Ohio. For a variety of reasons, I refused to move with them. I had 1 1/2 years of high school left, and I wanted to finish right there, and not uproot and go to a huge city school.

What to do with me? Where could I live? My mom's parents lived in the same small town, but also for a variety of reasons, I didn't want to live with them. Never mind that they were in their late 60s and didn't need to have a wild, independent minded teenager in the house.

My best friend in high school, Sue, talked to her parents. They agreed to take custody of me and let me live with them. They even fixed up some fence so I could bring my horses over. They took in my cat, too. How fortunate was I to have such grace? To be allowed to become a part of someone else's family. And bring my other "best friends, my horses and cat. They were a family that provided much-needed stability, wisdom, guidance, and above all, love. Welcomeness. Safeness. I loved them so much. Even her grandparents made me feel welcome and a part of the family. Words cannot express what this meant to me. Being the clueless teenager that I was, I never realized their sacrifice until many years later of course... but I did finally realize it. They were my angels at a time in my life when I really needed some. I will never ever forget their kindness and the difference they made in my life.

When my friend and I graduated from high school, her grandmother gave me a picture. She was truly an artist at heart, a woman with great artistic talents that did what almost everyone else in her generation did when they got married: put their own dreams aside, became a farm wife, a mother, and then later a grandmother. For my high school graduation, knowing my love for horses, she painted a horse on a piece of glass, and enclosed it in a frame for me. Black ink, with a yellow paper background. It was beautiful, and she did it for me. A beautiful 8 x 10 work of art, created just for me.

Fast forward 25 years. I still have the picture. In its original frame. The frame has taken some abuse over the years, moving to KY with me for college, and remaining in my home through houses bought, houses sold, marriages, divorces, remarriage, a couple of farms.... Several times I thought to reframe it, but she had taped up the back so nicely, and it was so much her handiwork, I never did. It stayed with me all these years, just how she created it.

I learned that the Grandmother passed away several years ago, and through the miracle of Facebook, found my old friend. On a whim this weekend, I asked her if she ended up with any of her Grandma's work, and would she like this piece... She was ecstatic and said she doesn't have any of her Grandma's work and would love love love to have it if it wasn't too much trouble. I'm so happy that it is now going "home" to her. It is just one very small thing I can do to thank her and her family for the life-changing chance they took on me.

Here's to you and your family, Sue. I know the meaning of Amazing Grace from you and your family.