By For Mother’s day my sister and I drove over to Westview cemetery to our parent’s gravesite. I know they’re not there. They’re in heaven. But it’s my way of letting them know “you are not forgotten.” and “you made a difference in my life.”.
Every time we go to the cemetery, we have a bit of a scavenger hunt to find the grave of Tommy Scott. He’s not a relative. My father would tell the tragic story about Tommy. Tommy was born in 1928, like my dad. I presume they were school mates at E. Rivers Elementary. He may have lived down the road from my dad on West Wesley. The story is that Tommy came down with a sore throat…it may have been strep. It wasn’t the dark ages in 1936, but medicine certainly wasn’t advanced as it is today. Poor Tommy passed away in the night. Nearby is a marker for Lois Scott, who I presume is Tommy’s mother. Clearly this memory stuck with my dad as he shared it with us whenever we’d go to the cemetery (either to see the grave site of his parents or in later years of his wife and sister). I don’t know if anyone else knows Tommy’s story, but my sister and I are trying to keep it alive. And so it goes. My father passed the tale onto us…and we’ll pass it along to her children.
Why is it important? I would say it’s the 3 C’s – caring, connections and community
Tommy’s short and tragic life points out how fragile life is and how circumstances can change suddenly. The first lesson for me (which was one of the gratitude challenges recently) is to let people know that you love them…that you care.
The next lesson is how important it is to share stories such as these with your children. Write down the stories about your life. They don’t have to be perfect. They can be short and silly; long and detailed. They can be about what it was like when your parents dropped you off at college or about your first prom date. You can write down what your typical breakfast was when you were growing up. All of these stories tie one generation to the next. One of our favorite stories is about a dog named Pluto from when my grandfather was growing up.
Caring and Connecting are all about how we come together as a community.
As we head into a turbulent presidential election and as social media tries to divide us, I challenge you all to focus on what brings us together.
