Saturday, September 17, 2011

I am so glad I listened and went to my mom's house tonight!

I Am So Glad I Went To Mom's House Tonight!

Tonight I got the best gift I could have ever gotten.  If I did no listen to the voice inside that said GO, I would have missed out on a memory that will be with me the rest of my life.  I wanted to share it with you so you can see how much God cares about our feelings.  He knows that we needed to have peace about who we were selling the house to.!  It is a hard thing to give up the last piece of our parents we have…but today I can honestly say, I am excited for what God has in store for it….
I had a show in Hamburg.  I was performing as CoCo the Clown at a 3 year olds birthday party.  The show went better than expected. I just had so much fun clowning around.  The whole time I was there I was thinking about mom, and the house…knowing that the new owners were supposed to be there to start working on the house. I kept thinking, "should I go or not?" I texted the person  who was renting and asked him, “Are they there?”  He wrote back “They weren’t when I left but I will be home in 15 min. and I will let you know.”   I told him that I was doing a clown show that was ten min away.  He said, “oh, my kids would love that, can you come over?"  I really only wanted to go if the new owners were there, but I did not want to disappoint him.  I was having an internal conflict with myself…arguing out loud in the car…My heart wanted to go…but time wise, I wanted to just go home and rest, Finally the voice that said “Go!” won and I found myself on my way to moms house.  As I pulled onto mom’s road, I remembered the last time I  came as a clown.  Mom always loved it.  She would get such a great big smile on her face when I came in as CoCo the Clown!  As I remembered the last time that happened, I started to tear up. I had to tell myself to "Straighten up…clowns shouldn’t cry!"   As I pulled into the driveway Little Camden (Mike’s son) ran out of the house as soon as I got out of the car.  He was so excited! He was jumping up and down and saying, ”This is so cool! You are soooo cool! You are the coolest clown eve! I can’t believe you came to see me!”  I got my balloon pump out and told him I would make him balloon animals.  He was so excited.  They had me come in the living room.  As we walked in, Camden spread his arms out real big and motioned around the living room and said..."Don't you just love this place!"  That was it...CoCo the Clown had tears coming down her face... I looked at him and said, "Yes, honey I love this place very much..."  Then Mike explained that I lived here from the time I was  a little girl.  After that Mike, His wife Jen, daughter Maddie and Son Camden watched and laughed as I made balloons.  I made a sward and a belt for Camden…which of course made Mike say….”I need one too!”   I made a dog on a leash for Maddie and then once I made a flower I told Camden to take it over to his mom and tell her it was for her and that he loved her!  Once he did that, and the whole family went, ”Awe How cute!”  a sword fight broke out between the boys… which of course made me  produce 3 more swords and we all had a sword fight in the living room.  It was so great to hear so much laughter in the house.  It was a gift I will never forget. If I would have went home then I would have felt fulfilled…but it gets better. 

I walked into the kitchen and looked out the window and saw two guys working on the barn…I looked at Mike and said,  “Is one of them the one buying the house?”  He pointed to one and said he thought it was that one…I   asked him…”well, should I go as CoCo the clown or go change and look like a respectable person?”  He gets that special smile on his face that reminds me of dad puts his arm around me and gives me a squeeze and says, “I think you should go out just like you are!  I will go out with you!” 

As I am walking out toward the barn the guys look up and start laughing at me.  They look at Mike and me and say, “They sure do dress different out here in the country don’t they!”  Mike then introduces me as one of the owners of the house and the mans eyes light up…He grabs my hand shakes it and says, “Thank you so much for selling me your house!”  He goes on to tell me it is his dream house.  Then he says, “Wait, I have to show you something….”  He looks though his phone and opens up a picture of moms wooden message box in the front entryway.  He says, “  Look at this.  This is my moms. It is almost exactly the same. I grew up with this from the time I was little. As soon as I saw this I knew I had come home, and that this is the house for me.”  He shows me the picture and I am amazed. It is the same saying (If at home you do not find us, leave a note that will remind us) and it had pictures of Teddy bears on it.  He then shows me another picture…it is of mom’s kitchen…with her table in it…but with the walls all redone and painted.  He is planning on putting white wood going half way up the wall (vertical) with a wood trim, and painting the top a tan color….It looked so beautiful.  He had taken pictures of every room in the house he told me he wants to live in it just the way it is for a while…but he spends every spare moment with photo shop dreaming of what he can do with the house.  He told me he matched the brick outside and with photo shop came up with the colors he is painting the house…a tan and brown.  He also told me he drives by the house 3-5 times a week, at different times of the day, just to see what it looks like at different times of the day! He told me I could come by any time and see what he has done with the house.  He also told me he could tell the house was made with much love and could feel it in the house as he walked through.  He even asked me if mom sewed!  When I told her she had quilting classes one day a week in her kitchen, he got a big smile on his face, and said, “I knew it…mom was a sewer and so was yours…they would have loved each other…” He told me about his mom.  She is 93.  Where they live now he has to carry her up the stairs for her to use the bathroom.  He can’t wait for her to see the bathroom downstairs When I asked him which room she will get, he looks at me and says, “Oh that is up to her, she gets first choice!”  Then he asks me if he could take my picture as a clown to show his mom!  As we are talking his phone rings, he looks and says, “Oh, that is mom now!”  He tells her he has someone very special for her to talk to and hands me the phone.  Tears came to my eyes as I heard her voice, she called me honey and sounded just like grandma Serena.  She asked me what I was doing there and I said, “Oh, just clowning around!" (which made every one laugh) and then I told her, “Actually, I just came to say hi to your son and see if he was working hard enough….”  She replied…” He’s a hard worker that son of mine…I just love that boy so much!”  I told her I would stop by and see her sometime and we said goodbye he again invited me back to see the house any time….

I went into the house (actually Camden came out and said his balloon sword popped and asked me to make him a new one) I made two flowers out of balloons and took them out to him and told him that those were for “mom”.   He thanked me and told me he would take good care of the house and love it so very much….

What a precious time God gave to me today…I have such a peace about selling mom’s house now.  It may not yet be filled with kids…but today it was…It was filled with laughter, joy and fun…just like it always was.  God let me meet the wonderful family that is moving in.  They are people that will love the house and appreciate all the things in the house!  I am so glad I listened to the voice that said “Go!!” instead of listening to the voice of reason that said….”You don’t have time for this!”  I would have missed out on a precious last memory of moms house.  Listen to those still small voices….they usually are something great that God has planned for you!

2 comments:

  1. This is such a beautiful story and message. Thank you so much for sharing that. xoxoxo

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  2. Larry told me to read your post saying I would probably cry. I said I wouldn't, after all, I don't get nearly emotional as he does. Well, he was right and I was wrong. I cried. Beautifully written Kathleen. Thank you for taking the time to write your heart. Love Marcy

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