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
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