Sunday Afternoons in 1939

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Before Mother moved in with us in 2014, she and I used to talk on the phone every evening. She always wanted to hear about our day. One night I told her about a walk our daughter, granddaughter, and I had taken to photograph wildflowers.

I remember how priceless it was when a story like that one prompted a childhood memory in Mother and she would tell me a story. That night she began, “I like wildflowers in the spring.” Then, she told about Sunday afternoons when she was seven years old. When a near-neighbor’s granddaughter visited her grandparents, she and Mother would walk by the creek and see the wildflowers. I loved imagining my mother walking among the wildflowers back in 1939.

Simple pleasures were the only ones available to Mother. She was the richer for it. With all of our distractions and busyness, sometimes it’s hard to remember to share simple pleasures with our children. One day this week might be just the day to put down the books and electronics and take a walk to look at the changes God is making this fall.

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8

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