Happy New Year Fantastic Her Voice Readers!

As I look on the New Year it’s a reminder of how blessed I am to have met some of the amazing people over my lifetime. So very thankful!

I wrote this about a wonderful lady I met and who we lost last year; however as I read it I realize that some of it relates to other people in my life. Their strength, their faith and their great love of family and friends. So I’m going to change what I wrote about my dear Sharyn and not include names.  

I Met a Lady 

A few years ago my husband Marty and I went on a trip to Las Vegas with friends to visit her mother and to relax and have fun.

When we arrived at her mother’s home she answered the door wearing a man’s button down shirt and jeans. Now most of you won’t think anything of that but for me it was like being welcomed “home.” Throughout my entire life my mother wore men’s button down shirts and jeans (unless of course she needed to dress up). But in all my memories of my mom, that is what she was wearing. 

So when this dear lady opened that door with a smile and open arms wearing her button down shirt and jeans it just brought a smile to my face and a whole host of emotions.

Part of the reason we had come was so that the guys could do some painting for her on the interior of her home. So every day the men would be busy painting from early morning until early afternoon. While they were doing that, my friend was usually cooking or cleaning and I got the honor of visiting with her mom.

It was absolutely wonderful. Just like my mother and I, she was an avid reader. We discussed many of the books we had read and some that we planned on reading. I found she was extremely intelligent and I loved visiting with her.

Throughout our time together she shared a great many stories of her childhood. She might not have grown up in a wealthy family but she did have an abundance of good memories and of course a few that showed that life always hadn’t been easy for her. But the whole time she was sharing those stories she had a peaceful smile on her face and I could just feel her joy.

She also shared stories of each of her four children. It became clear immediately that she had a deep and abiding love for her children.

In the stories she shared about each of them you could hear the pride in her voice too. She recited each of her children’s accomplishments with such passion and when she had covered those she began sharing about her grandchildren. You could clearly see they also held a very special place in her heart.

I left there that year feeling so blessed, and I knew I had been in the presence of a great lady. A dear lady I knew would be my friend for life.

The following year we went back and it was like I had never left. As my friend and the men worked on her Mom’s patio I again got to visit with her and she had even more stories to share. And I was a perfect and grateful audience as I enjoyed hearing them as much as she enjoyed sharing.

Another wonderful trip I will always remember.

It was two years before I was able to go back with my friend to Vegas to see her mother. During that time I had talked to her mom on the phone and of course she’d text once in a while and I remembered her with her favorite – sweets & chocolates – at Christmas, which she was always so appreciative of.

But this time when we got there she was not herself. We could tell she didn’t feel good at all and yet she did try and get up and visit a bit but she didn’t have the strength.

So when I left there the last time, I left my friend there with her mother, as she was extremely ill.

When I first wrote this, my friend’s mom was still in the hospital and I couldn’t get her out of my mind. So I had to do something and this is what I did, wrote “I Met a Lady.”

I titled it, “I Met a Lady,” because when I think of this lady, that’s how I see her. A lady, a truly great lady! A lady that has lived through love and loss, a lady that has an amazing love and pride for her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A lady who might not have had it all, but she made the very best of all she had. A lady who is so very creative, she blows the phrase “thinking outside the box” totally out – for her there was not even a box.

She was a lady who opened her home and heart to others and was not afraid to share her love.

I Met a Lady – and because of her my life is richer and fuller. I am forever blessed to call her my friend.

As I said, I’m thankful to have a lot of amazing ladies and men in my life and my wish for you is that you do too. To 2020 – a year of remembering the amazing people we have had in our lives!