Dearest Isabella, Part 10

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a greatcloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Let’s pretend that this is my final letter to you. I say pretend, because I know that there will be many more letters to you, Jack, Sarah and “Cupcake.” By the time that you read this, you will know “Cupcake’s” real name and whether Cupcake is a girl or a boy. Several months before you were born, Coach and I were in Dallas and having dinner with your Mom and Dad and your Uncle Curt and Aunt Margo and your cousins, Jack and Sarah. It was the evening that Aunt Margo and Uncle Curt shared the good news with your Mom and Dad that Aunt Margo was soon going to have another baby and that you would have a new cousin just a few months after you were born. That evening, Sarah announced that “Aunt Kristen’s baby” (That would be you) was going to be named “Queso” and that new little brother or sister –to –be would be named “Cupcake.” I often laugh about “Queso” and “Cupcake.”

So, as I said, there will be many more letters that I write to you, Jack, Sarah and Cupcake but this is the last of your “Isabella Rose McGee has been born” letters. I have found great joy in writing to my sweet, adorable grandchildren. (Now I am sounding like Grandmother Beryldine again.)

As I took these few weeks to write to you and recall the strong women that have been in my life, I couldn’t help but pull it all together with a verse from Hebrews. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us run the race that is set before us.” The funny thing is that Coach used this verse at your Mom and Dad’s wedding. When the minister asked, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” Coach did not answer with the typical response of “Her mother and I do.” Because he believed that many people had invested in and enriched your mother’s life, he had a different answer. He referenced the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1. Coach referenced that great cloud of witnesses that surround us and proceeded to list the people that supported and gave away your Mother to be married to your Dad. He said something like this: “Her Grandfather Curtis, her Grandmother Doris, her Grandmother Beryldine, her Papa Tom, her cousin, Heather, her brother, Curt, her sister-in-law Margo, her nephew Jack (Sarah wasn’t born yet, but did attend the wedding in your Aunt Margo’s tummy) and (big breath) her mother and I do.” No one was expecting this and you could hear the people in the sanctuary. It is something that I hold very dear to my heart. Coach practiced and practiced and we all had a visual picture of all of those that had gone on before us that were gathered that day to celebrate with us. I hope that when you get married, Isabella Rose McGee, (and Sarah Margaret Crofford and Jackson Bailey Crofford and Cupcake Crofford and all your other little brothers or sisters and cousins to come) you will feel and think about this story of all the people that have loved you through the years and supported and encouraged you as you have grown up and are gathered to give their love and support to you as you marry.

But what writing this has done for me is that it made me list some of the great cloud of witnesses that are cheering me on as I run this race. I no longer have this nebulous (big word for ‘not clear’) picture of the crowd, but actual faces that are lined up as I run the race that has been put before me. One time, Sarah was cheering for Jack at a soccer game. She would jump up, bend her arm, pump it back and forth and say, “Go, Jack, Go!” I got such a kick out of her precious little smile, tow headed blonde bouncy hair and cheerleader style rooting for her big brother Jack. Now I see Connie, Dixie, Hays, Rella, Bessie, Mrs. Prescott, Brickey, Mildred, Iris, Marylou, Grandmother, Aunt Evelyn, Grandma Beryldine. And, my Uncle Luke, my Uncle Glenn, my Daddy. Others that I didn’t meet until I was almost an adult like your other two great grandparents – Coach’s parents, Grandma Doris, who is still with us, and Granddaddy. And, a host of others that I have failed to mention. All waving their arms and shouting, like Sarah, “Go, Cindy, Go!” This verse has come alive to me. Isabella, you and I will cross that finish line together someday, along with all the people that have come into our lives, and finish the race.

“Go, Isabella, Go! Go Jack, Go! Go, Sarah, Go! and Go, Cupcake, Go!”

Joys Ahead,

Cici/Çease

Dearest Isabella, Part 9

Thomas Jackson Lynn: Well, this could also fill a book. My dad, Tom or sometimes TJ, if Mother was flirting with him, grew up in the Great Depression. Again, I’ll let Coach tell you all about that later. His mother died when he was about six from tuberculosis and he was raised by his older sister, Mabel. They were very poor and he remembered living in a tent, traveling to Florida for work and watching his dog disappear down the road because they couldn’t take the dog with them while he sat in the back of a pick up truck, and having the only quarter in his pocket that his family had at the time. He noticed that the men he admired the most were men that were involved in church. He chose to pattern his life after them and he was an elder in the First Christian Church in Amarillo for as long as I can remember. He had more sayings than you can imagine. At the time, I thought they were bothersome, but now I would love to hear him say them again and tell him how smart I think he was. When we were leaving on a trip he would say, “Now would be a good time to get those things you forgot.” Not long ago I heard Uncle Curt tell Jack and Sarah that. When I complained about steak being tough, he would say, “I’ll tell you when it’s tough, it’s tough when you don’t have any.” He always looked out for people that were less fortunate than he was and when he died, friends made donations to the Salvation Army. One of my favorite memories is that he called my mother “My Lady” and “Honeychile” My mother bought some silverware that was called “My Lady” just because of its name. Maybe someday you, Sarah or Jack will have it. I love to think about them when their love was new and before the war took such a toll on him. Mother said he was never quite the same jovial man after the war. When I would ask him about WWII, he would shake his head and say “It was awful. It was awful.” He did manage to secretly tell my mom where he was on a ship in the South Pacific. The government censored the letters but he managed to tell her to tell the new girl Callie something or other. Dona you remember her or something like that. He was in New Caladona and mother figured it out. I have attached some pictures that were taken after the war. Mother and Evelyn were beautiful and Daddy and Uncle Luke were handsome and dashing. I sometimes see my dad in your Uncle Curt. He used to regularly send Grandmother Beryldine flowers, but Grandma Beryldine stopped that and said they needed to save the money. He graduated from Amarillo High School, the same high school Grandma Beryldine, Coach and I graduated from, when he was 21. Talk about perservance. He never had a college degree but he managed to save a considerable amount of money on a very modest salary. He used to charge me a penny when I left the lights on and to this day, I turn off lights when I leave a room….or at least most of the time. If your mom or Uncle Curt would save some money, he would match it and put it in savings. He was frugal, but generous. One of the funniest stories was when he ask Coach to go with him to do his shopping on Christmas Eve. Coach remembers going into a Rexall drugstore right before they locked the door. He looked up and down the aisles and settled on a bottle of Great Body Hair Conditioner. He said he didn’t know what it was, but he knew it was good because it was expensive. Your great grandmother was perplexed when she opened it and said she didn’t know whether she should rub it on or drink it. Before you are too harsh on him, remember Grandmother Beryldine took back a mink coat that he bought her. Note to Isabella, Jack and Sarah….love the gift and love the gift giver. The night he died, I called him and told him I loved him. We had a good talk and he said he wanted me to call again the next night. I said I would try. Later that night he had a massive heart attack and was gone quickly. I wish I had said “Sure, I will call you.” Grandmother Beryldine said that she wished she could have told him one more time that she loved him. When it’s all said and done, Sarah, Jack and Isabella, the greatest of these is love. He was a good Daddy and I’m so happy that Jack bears his name.