The older I get the more of a sentimental sap I am becoming. I use to laugh at my Mom for crying at commercials. But, here I am inching my way towards thirty, and with every day closer to that age, I find myself becoming a little bit softer around the edges. Maybe that is a good thing. I'm kind of thinking so. I use to pride myself on my tough exterior, but I'm beginning to value the ability to sympathize with others more than the pride that it takes to avoid a tear or two.
Today I cried a lot. But it was mostly good tears. My cousin got engaged on Easter Sunday. He told me the story today... which lead to my tears. I think it's as good as anything in a movie, so I'm gonna share it with you.
My Aunt Marietta who was beautiful and very girly was blessed with three sons. Three farm-boy sons. She loved Mary Kay. They loved milking cows. She loved high heels. They loved hauling hay. Sometimes she made comments about how she looked forward to when her boys grew up and got married so that she could finally have a daughter. But two years ago on Easter Sunday, my Aunt Marietta at the young age of 44 died after enduring through the pain of breast cancer. The funeral home said it was the largest crowd they had ever seen at a visitation. People waited in line for more than two hours to give their condolences to the grieving family members and to pay their respects to this God-fearing, life-loving, warm-hearted, devoted-Mother of 3, friend to all.
The past two years have not been easy on the small, grieving family of 4 men that were left behind. Her youngest son was only in the 7th grade. My uncle had depended on her for so much of the domestic responsibilities that in the beginning they rarely knew what or how to make a dinner for themselves. Like any family that has lost a key member, her lack of presence was keenly felt. How do you get past such a tragic loss?
Slowly but surely, life has continued on. Not the same. But on. Jake, the oldest of her sons really stepped up to the plate of responsibility, taking on much of the care-taking of his youngest brother Jeremiah. And so I have worried about him. Not because I did not think that he could not handle the task, but because I feared he would be so busy filling the gap that his Mom's absence had left, that he would be unable to move forward with his life. That maybe he would get stuck being a care-taker until too many years had passed, and he had missed out on finding a wife and having a family.
About a year ago Jake started dating a girl from his hometown. They'd known each other for several years, but one day he stopped by the store where she worked, and he said he just saw her differently. His eyes were opened, and so he walked up to her and asked her to have dinner with him that night. For the last year, she has become a part of these men's lives... four men and a lady. She has cooked for them, doted on them, washed clothes for them, and brought out the best in my cousin. He told me that recently he just couldn't get asking her to marry him off of his mind. So one day, not able to take it any longer, he left his hay in the fields and headed to a jewelry store.
On Saturday night before Easter, Lauren put Easter eggs filled with candy on the table for Jake and his brothers. So the next morning, when she stopped on her way to church and Jake told her there was an Easter egg in the yard for her, she assumed he was giving her a similar gift of chocolates... until he got on one knee. The ring was in the egg. Jake told her that Easter had been a sad day for him for several years, now, but that he felt his Mom would not want it to be that way... that'd she want him to turn it around. But the only way this day could make him happy was if Lauren would agree to be his wife.
My cousin is a farmer. He didn't go to college. Cattle is one of his top five favorite pieces of convo. He thinks that I talk like a "Yankee" because I say "double-you" instead of "dubbya", and he kind of prides himself in being old fashioned and traditional - despite the fact that he is 25. But he has a good heart. And he pulled off one of the sweetest, most heart-felt, meaningful proposals I've ever heard of in real life or in the movies... and I know his Mom would be proud and thrilled. I certainly am!
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