2007 mother letters

Dear Mother,

That was supposed to be the last "mother letter" of the year. The one mailed to you a couple of days ago. But - but - but....this morning, Christmas morning, I woke up with some "tag along" thoughts and yesterday happenings I wanted to share with you before the day gets along and they are gone -- gone to the attic of things I wished I'd remembered to say.

Peter and Lucky watched a couple of movies last night and good time to do it as Christmas Eve in Austin proved the weatherman right -- it was a rainy one. Joel called earlier in the day and I told him about listening to Jon Meacham, the Editor of Newsweek magazine and Dr. Rick Warren, author of, A Purpose Driven Life, talk about religion on Meet The Press. It was all kind of timely as yesterday, Joel was concerned about making money and Warren talked about his internal tug-of-war with making money on the sale of this new book and how he finally resolved it. Turns out, it all depends on what you do and how you use the money. Nothing new here. This is an old lesson. It kind of shoved its way into other things I was hearing, realizing, and considering yesterday and this morning.

Before I forget, Tim Russert's, Meet The Press, ended the program with a "tip-of-the-hat-nod" to Robert Frost by playing old clips of the Nobel Laureat's reading of his famous poem, "The Gift Outright". It begins: "The land was ours before we were the land's. She was our land more than a hundred years before we were her people. She was ours in Massachusetts, in Virginia." Now maybe I didn't understand exactly what Robert Frost meant, but, my ears clamped down after listening to those first words. The land wasn't "ours"! Listen to the words of George Hicks, Cherokee leader on the Trail of Tears in 1838. Coincidentally, I was reading his "poem" in Wilma's autobiography yesterday..."we are now about to take our leave and kind farewell to our native land, the country that the great spirit gave our Fathers, we are on the eve of leaving that country that gave us birth...it is with sorrow that we are forced by the authority of the white man to quit the scenes of our childhood...we bid a final farewell to it and all we hold dear." "The land was ours," my ass.

The Pope told the world this morning that we should not worship technology. But, with Time magazine's focus on "You" as the person of the year and the whole world becoming more interactive, is there time and space for the "old lessons" any longer. Are they becoming irrelevant. Is speed and the immediacy of "now" going to rule and dominate everything. Will my spending time reading about, thinking about and writing about how the Cherokee Chiefs of yesterday have any meaning and lessons in this fast moving world we're living in today. Will anyone care. After all, this is old stuff.

Peter and Lucky watched, Kingdom of Heaven last night, a movie about the Crusades and battles for control of Jerusalem between the Muslim and secular worlds. The time was a thousand years ago. Turn on the T.V., though, and you're watching a re-play. compliments of G. W. Bush. I think he could have used a little relevance by opening a history book. So, that's enough "proof in the pudding" to me that some of the "old lessons" still count.

What can I tell you about Lucky, your grandson's new "rescue" dog. Peter says he just had the bejeebers beaten out of him as a pup and has lost all of his spunk and personality. I'm not so sure about this. That dog doesn't miss a thing as he sleeps with his eyes open. And, if he happens to forget and close them for a second or two, his ears are cocked so as to catch all sounds roaming around the room. It's possible that old Lucky has lots of personality but for the moment, he's just keeping close council until he gets everything figured out.

Well, mother, clean out your closet as you are getting ready to fill your 92nd year. And, don't forget one of Betty Jo's elementary catechism's..."keep one foot on the sidealk at all times." That one often times gets me through a hard day.

Love,

Jody