Thank you for being an attentive mama.
When Ray and I married in 1974, America was experiencing the Women’s Liberation Movement. Helen Reddy had released her hit song, “I Am Woman,” two years before. In 1973 I saw her in concert at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. I was twenty years old.
Memories of that night came back to me several weeks ago when both Helen Reddy and country singer Mac Davis died on the same day. You see, Mac Davis was the other artist at the concert that night. He sang before Reddy. As I recall, she was late to the concert; and Davis sang extra songs.
One detail of that night’s concert has always stayed with me. An announcement was made that Reddy had a sick child. My twenty-year-old heart couldn’t understand a mother performing at a concert when her child was sick. I can’t judge Helen Reddy that night, I only know that my twenty-year-old heart felt sad.
I don’t know all of the details of that one night and what went on behind the scenes. Perhaps the child was with his or her dad or grandmother. I just know that it didn’t feel right to me. I am certainly not here to judge Helen Reddy on that July day in 1973 or at any time..
However, I am thankful for you who make your children the priority that they deserve. That mother made an impression on me when I was twenty. You are making impressions on the people who know you, too. Thank you for being a good example.
But we proved to be gentle among you.
As a nursing mother
tenderly cares for her own children . . .
1 Thessalonians 2:7