Extraordinary

K is an older woman who I've gotten to know over the past few years. To say she's had a tough life is an understatement. She's never had much, she's never wanted much. She was a hard worker, until her health took that ability away from her. She is a mother and a grandmother and very recently became a great-grandmother. She's taking care of a couple of her grandsons and she'll literally do anything for them.

This is a carryover from raising her kids. She recently told me that raising children is her calling, this is what she was designed to do. She didn't say that she is good at it, but she knows that is what she was created to do - because that is what consumes her heart and mind. That is all she thinks about. The same couldn't be said for the father of her kids.

She raised her kids without a dad and she knew that this wasn't right - it wasn't what was best for them. So, she tried to find guys who could be an example for them, who would teach them what it was to be a man. Unfortunately there are very few men out there who know what it is to be a man these days.

She raised her kids without much, so she tried to eke everything she could out of what she got. She learned to work the system and get extra where she could. But not for herself, for her kids and now her grandkids. There's an old question, "Is it okay to steal if you are starving?" She made sure her kids never had to answer that question by answering it for herself.

She gave me a gift this week. It's nothing special and it might seem silly to others. But it means the world to me. I haven't done anything that seems special, just tried to love her and make her feel special, because she is.