Goodness I am tired. Life has been so full and hectic the last two weeks. The Growler has started volleyball, The Gaminator has had to face the reality that sometimes even he needs help with math and started attending tutoring, and Distracto attended her first homecoming with the boy next door (literally).
Gratuitous Photo Brag
My work has kicked into high gear as our students have finally started the school year. I’ve faced some health concerns that included having an MRI of my brain (yes, they did in fact find one – and it’s perfectly normal!). And in the midst of all of that I have dealt with my very least favorite thing. Grief.
If any of you reading this read my blogs before my very long writing hiatus, you already know that grief is hard for me. This post titled The Grief Wing from my Temple Remodel blog says it well. Now, in the midst of all the life that has happened in the last few weeks I have hung a new portrait in my grief wing. Hanging right between Sandy, my father-in-law, and my Nana is a beautiful picture of my Aunt Pat.
Aunt Pat is really Perfecto’s great aunt, but I claim her as mine just as she claimed me. Aunt Pat was the first member of Perfecto’s family that I met. It was terrifying. Anyone who knew Aunt Pat knows that you never had any doubt what she thought about you or whatever topic you might be discussing. I’m not sure I have ever met anyone, especially not a woman, that was so willing to say what she thought without any hesitation. It was remarkable and intimidating. She was the most amazing combination of “suck it up buttercup” and “here honey, let me help you with that,” and I wanted to grow up to be just like her.
As I have spent time thinking about Aunt Pat and the impact she had in my life I realized that what she did more then anything else was stand in the gap for people. She stood in the gap for Perfecto and his brother many times as they grew up in a broken home. She bought them school clothes, and gave their dad parenting advice (whether he wanted it or not I suspect), filled the void when their grandparents passed away, and was a constant prayer warrior over their family. When Perfecto came to A&M for school she took him into her home, fed him and cared for him as a mother or grandmother would, and took every opportunity to teach him life lessons that I know shaped the man he is today.
Aunt Pat stood in the gap for me too. About six weeks before our wedding, Perfecto accidentally burned down a part of the house we were going to move into. (Maybe you’ll get that story in another post one day.) So, when we got back from our honeymoon, we had about two weeks left on my lease in a fourplex, and then we had no home. There was Aunt Pat, standing in the gap, welcoming us in along with my cat and if I remember correctly, our roommate as well. (We had a friend live with us for a while after we got married – it helped pay the mortgage.) I was starting a new job that meant daily commuting to Houston from Bryan-College Station, Perfecto spent almost every evening after school and work trying to get the house ready for us to move back in. During that critical time of our brand new marriage, Aunt Pat didn’t just give us a place to sleep, she gave us a home. I learned much about the kind of wife I want to be from sitting in her living room, Aunt Pat in her recliner, me on the couch, talking until Perfecto finally came in for the night.
Years later she stood in the gap for me again. I was pregnant with Distracto, Perfecto was working out of town for his job, and I had pneumonia. I was too sick to get myself to the doctor. I wanted my mom, but my mom was hours away. And there was Aunt Pat, standing in the gap until my mom could get to me the next day. I will never know if she cancelled plans or appointments that day or what else she had happening in her life at the moment, but she spent the entire day driving me to the doctor, waiting as I got chest x-rays, taking me to the pharmacy, and making sure I had food to eat. About a year later as Perfecto and I were adjusting to being parents and desperately wanting for a night out together, Aunt Pat was the first to babysit Distracto. We had a need and she filled it. That’s just who she was. She stood in the gap.
As I have strolled through these memories over the last few weeks I found myself smiling. See, what I understand now is that Aunt Pat stood in the gap not just for us, but for more friends and family than I will ever be able to count or know. Why did she do this? Why give of herself so often and so fully? Why share her resources, home, time, and love over and over when she saw a need? Because she loved Jesus. Because she modeled her life after our Savior who bridged the gap between humanity and God for all time. She sacrificed of herself so she could pour love into others, so she could teach them that the answers are all found in God’s word, and so she could speak the truth of Christ into their lives. That is certainly what she did in the gap for me. And when I grow up, I want to be just like her.
Patience & Grace 