Letters From Grandpa #496

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 496
• 2

Dearest grandchild,

I have three letters from grandpa ready to send, but last night I awakened with the burden to write a special letter honoring our mothers. In particular I remembered something the late Mike Pratt wrote to his mother on May 12, 1969. Among other things, he wrote: “I want you to have the words to this little description of what I will always remember as describing your loving attitude toward us kids.

I AM TIED DOWN “I am tied down, by . . . clothes lines on which I hang small blue and yellow rompers – by strings . . . just common-place white thread with which I sew on buttons, mend wee pockets, patch faded, thread bare little suits. Ropes tie me down . . . red jumping ropes, and those that pull small wooden animals about. Young, bleeding grimy thumbs there are to kiss and bind with lengths of clean white gauze. And baby arms around my neck . . . Oh, yes . . . I am tied down. Thank God I am tied down.”

Perhaps you remember that Mike’s mother was in a plane crash on June 23, 1966 that killed her husband and daughter. Mike’s mother, Leona, suffered 52 fractures but miraculously survived. However, she spent six months in the hospital. During this time Mike wrote her many letters of encouragement. He continued to write her letters of encouragement until his own death on December 24, 1974. Excerpts from his letters are published in the small booklet Meditations For Mother. Here is a link to that booklet if you are interested -

https://boycemouton.com/downloads/Meditations_For_Mother.pdf

While most of our letters are not focused on a certain day, the debt we owe to our mother’s should always be something special. I will forever be eternally grateful for my wife, mother, and grandmother for being “tied down” with an endless devotion to little children.

The poet said: “I sought it in a temple with angel vested choir, where dim and solemn spaces called my soul up higher. I thought that music sweet and rare would reach his very throne, and yet I saw some faces that were troubled like my own. And then I heard a summon’s call – Forward! Do not stay. A world of conflict needs you. Come do your part today. So I joined the forces of the right, and the hosts of evil fought, in the thickest of the fight I found the peace I sought.”

While it may be difficult to believe, the challenge of motherhood can provide happiness and fulfillment that defies description. In addition to our 26 grandchildren, God has also blessed us with 19 great grandchildren, and two more are expected any day. I pray that every mother in our family will selflessly serve their babies and teach them about Jesus. Paradoxically, while serving others God can reward you with a peace that passes understanding.

Here is another poem especially about the happiness of motherhood. Couldn’t find it on the internet, but here is my best recollection:

I longed to write a poem of a rail fence heaped with snow.

Instead I baked a cherry pie cause David liked them so. I longed to paint a picture of a pear tree white with bloom,

Instead I made a braided rug to brighten Martha’s room.

I longed to sing a lilting song ere youth and dreams had flown. Instead I bathed Joan’s bleeding knee and smoothed a bandage on.

I’ll never do those dreamed of things, I’ve waited far too long. Now David writes, Martha paints, and Joan sings a happy song.

Mike Pratt died on Christmas Eve. He did not intend it to be that way. He was on his way to a happy reunion with loved ones and friends. Yet death did not catch him unawares, for he determined years before to arrange his life in such a way to always be prepared to this this earth with only a moment’s notice. The summation of his philosophy is probably best expressed by this advice which he once gave to a group of high school graduates:

“Be selective in what you think and do! Our many experiences are as strokes of the artist’s brush, shaping and tinting each of our characters in sometimes very subtle ways . . . Always remember that Jesus Christ, our Lord, Master, Savior, teaches us the true beauty of unselfish giving. Let us strive to pattern our lives after the One who has opened the door to life, and life more abundant. Jesus Christ – the Way of Fulfillment.”

Happy Mother’s Day,

Grandpa Boyce