Mother and Daughter Choosing What Is Important Right Now
Last night Ray and I went to a Memorial Day gathering at the farm of friends. We had good conversations with people we have known for many years and with people we met for the first time at the party. As we visited with a homeschooling mother I have known for years and her young married daughter who was sitting beside her, the mother told about the fun outings she and her daughter continue to share.
The artist Edgar Degas didn’t tell us who these two women at the milliner’s are; but according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art notes, one possibility is that they are a mother and daughter. I like to think that they are.
At the Milliner’s by Edgar Degas, 1881
Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection,
Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1997,
Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002
The mother at the party told us that both of her parents are very ill and told how her daughter is helping with them during this challenging time.
I wish I could quote her exactly, but she said something to this effect:
“When families have crises, they pull together.”
That is how it should be. This mother and daughter are choosing what is most important right now, and they are doing it together. They will never regret it.
Some things in life can wait; others cannot. The time to rock a baby is today. The time to read a bedtime story is tonight. The time to visit your grandmother, hug your daddy, smile at the grocery clerk, comfort your child, visit a sick friend, care for your parents in need, kiss your husband, is now. Be sure you don’t miss the window.
There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven —
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8