The Fairy Godmother

     

I never dressed up like a Disney princess.
I never even pictured myself a princess.

However, as I think back over my life, I realize that, like Cinderella, I had a fairy godmother.
Daley Love didn’t look anything like the fairy godmother in Disney’s Cinderella movie.

However, she did care for me and my sister as if we were her own children, and she loved my children as her own.  

And she would have turned a pumpkin into a coach for me if she could have.
She would have provided birds as companions to remind me I was loved.

After all, anyone named Daley Love has to be a special person,
Someone whose name exemplifies her.

Daley Love was a fairy godmother of sorts—
She had a magical touch.
She could make a house a home,
a picnic meal a feast,
or an ordinary event a memory to remember long after.

Much as the fairy godmother turned the pumpkin into a magical coach drawn by
mice-turned horses,
Any space in which Daley Love lived in or inhabited became something special—-

A fireplace became a hearth,
A playroom became a magical land of imagination,
A group of children who didn’t sing well became a heavenly choir she directed,
A Caravan camping trip became glamping,
And even a trip to Adventure Island in the pouring rain with roaches pouring out of the shelter we huddled beneath became a memory to forever remember.

Her hospitality,
Her warmth,
Her love . . .

Through my childhood,
Through the awkward teen years,
Through young motherhood, as she greeted each of my children with all the joy a biological mother would,
Through marriage and divorce and remarriage,
Through the deaths of my grandparents, my mother, my father,
Daley Love stood witness and supported me.
Cards would arrive in the mail with love sprinkled inside the envelope.

As one of my mother’s closest friends,
She was the reference book of all things people,
And when Mom could not remember someone’s name or something pertinent,
Daley Love was on speed dial.
For her, people mattered.
People deserved to be seen and deserved to be cared for.

Quietly working weekly at the church counting money,
Doing the books for Freight Sales, supporting her husband,
Cooking food for others,
Volunteering at the church,
Daley Love exemplified love.

How fortunate I am to have memories of times with her
Sledding down snow-covered hills,
Riding in the back of the Freight Sales mattress-filled semi-truck with Lori, Joey, and Kelly,
Singing in the choir she and Carol Mihlfeld led with Psalty the Songbook (AKA Dad) beside me,
Singing beside her in Jim Lacy’s choir when I became older,
Seeing her smile as I married a second time,
Seeing her rocking my youngest in a rocking chair in Texas,
And providing me the warmest welcome when I was able to come back home to Florida.

I will miss knowing that she is only a phone call away,
Or a trip away.
I will miss her tender ability to create that magical sense of love.

I have to believe that she would agree with the Fairy Godmother who says to Cinderella,
“If you’d lost all your faith, I couldn’t be here. And here I am!”

And with just a bit of faith, I think she would want to tell me
She is here.  Still with me.  Just a memory away,
Turning the ordinary into love-touched memories.
Telling me that the ugliness of the world and of evil "stepsisters" can be something of the past.
Reminding me that I am more than some ash-covered unseen being.

With just a bit of faith, she is here telling me that I am more than that.
I am loved.
And my challenge now is to go out and share this truth with others.  

My challenge is to exemplify daily love for
Daley Love.