Do You Know How Lucky You Are?
by Tara Pringle Jefferson
I was looking through my Sylvia’s cookbook (you know, the soul food queen) to get some nice comforting soul food recipes for the upcoming holiday season. I love this cookbook because it is truly a FAMILY cookbook. Sprinkled throughout the recipes are photos of the early years of Sylvia’s marriage to her husband Herbert, the growing of their family with their four kids, and countless photos of extended family and family friends. I love reading the love story of Sylvia and her husband, who were married for more than 50 years before her husband passed a few years ago.
This intro to a Southern breakfast recipe pretty much sums up how fabulous this couple was:
“After more than 50 years of marriage, we still dote on each other just like when we kept company in South Carolina. One thing Herbert does for me every single day is make me breakfast in bed. Sometimes, in the morning when I’m sleeping, I’ll feel something tickling my nose. It’s Herbert, trying to wake me up by tapping me with a flower he’s picked from the garden, still a little bit wet with dew, or with a piece of fruit from the breakfast tray. Believe me, I know how lucky we are to have each other….”
Can you believe that? EVERY SINGLE DAY he made her breakfast in bed. Now let’s see – they had four kids, were running a restaurant, had other commitments outside of work and they still found time to treat each other like queens and kings.
Even though my kids are too young to understand this, I read that passage out loud to them anyway. I want that type of love to be modeled in our home and I want them to go out in the world find that type of love for themselves.
Are you doing the best you can to set that example of love and devotion in your home?
Tara Pringle Jefferson is a freelance writer living in Ohio with her husband and two children. Visit her blog, www.theyoungmommylife.com, to read more of her observations about life, motherhood and love.
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