Merry Christmas Ricky Gene

After we opened the last present on Christmas Day, with Graham, Monnie and Jeffrey, we had some special notes to read we will treasure for a lifetime. In a note to her mother, Monnie wrote, “Mamas are the ones that keep families together.” I certainly have thought a lot about those words, and of course as I did remembered Mom. More and more I have been able to reach back and lay hold of precious things from our past and remember them savoring the sweetness of those memories. Some of those memories are so far back, that I am not sure whether I really remember the event itself, or if I heard it told so many times that I think I remember it.
The picture above may be from a little later on, but Mom had dressed her three boys alike again, and it definitely comes from somewhere near your toddler years.

This memory is also one of those that may fall in that category that has more to do with what has been repeated through the years than what I actually remember. We lived in an apartment above Aunt Janie, and again even though you are younger, you may remember this better than I.

Mom was making gravy in some kind of hot plate skillet on the kitchen counter. You may not have had a full set of teeth yet, but you wanted your tooth brush out of the cabinet and was trying your toddler best to retrieve it when it happened. Somehow you managed to jar that hot skillet of gravy off the counter and on to your face and neck. Mother ran and grabbed her baby, but as she tried to wipe the hot sticky gravy off, burnt skin came off with the gravy. What a scene. You were badly burned and screaming, and Mom did what any sane mother of three little boys would do under the circumstances, she grabbed you up in her arms and ran, or flew, down the stairs. I remember her sharing that she came to herself on her knees at the foot of the stairs, with you in her arms, saying, “My baby, My baby." Being the very sane older brother that I was, I responded,

Mommy, Mommy are we going to throw Ricky in the hole?

Oops, sorry, I seem to have confused my stories. That was Johnny. Now where was I? Yes, the ambulance came, and I guess Aunt Janie watched Johnny and I, because I don’t remember much of anything else except when they brought you home wrapped up like a mummy.

I recall how Mom took such diligent care of you, physically, by sleeping with you, with her arm across your arms and your little body, so you wouldn’t scratch at your burns. She also took such diligent spiritual care by asking everyone to pray for you. What an amazing miracle of God’s grace to answer the prayers of a young mother, and heal my baby brother. Her love for us and her diligent care have always been a reflection of God’s diligent care and love for us. We are so blessed.

This Christmas I want to thank you for all you are doing to keep the sweetness of our memories alive. I love you little brother, and thank God for the awesome revelation of his love through you.

Merry Christmas, from your big brother, Danny Ray