[tri-med] Re: Invisible

Debbie,

That was beautiful!! I hope you don't mind, I shared it with other mothers 
who need to be appreciated!

_________________________

In His Grace,

Karen RN

Failure is NOT an option!!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Debbie" <debbwebb@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 4:09 PM
Subject: [tri-med] Invisible


> This isn't just for the invisible mothers of the world.. but for all my
> girlfriends and the teachers of our children, who are invisible.. you are
> all building cathedrals. :o)
>
> Invisible Mother.....
>
>
> It all began to make sense, the blank  stares, the lack of response, the
> way one of the kids will walk into the room  while I'm on the phone and
> ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking,  'Can't you see I'm
> on the phone?'
> Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the  phone, or cooking, or
> sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in  the corner, because
> no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I
> am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can  you tie
> this?! ; Can you open this??
>
> Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not  even a human being. I'm a
> clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a  satellite
> guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to
> order,  'Right around 5:30, please.'
>
> I was certain that these were the hands  that once held books and the
> eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude -
> but now they had disappeared into the peanut  butter, never to be seen
> again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!?
>
> One night, a group of us were having  dinner, celebrating the return of
> a friend from England . Janice had just  gotten back from a fabulous
> trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she  stayed in. I was
> sitting there, looking around at the others all put  together so well.
> It wasn't; hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was  feeling
> pretty
> pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully  wrapped package,
> and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great  cathedrals
> of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given i t to me until I read
> her inscription:
>
> 'To Charlotte , with admiration for the  greatness of what you are
> building when no one sees.'
>
> In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would
> discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after
> which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great
> cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their
> whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great
> sacrifices and expected no credit.
>
> The passion of their building was fueled by  their faith that the eyes
> of God saw everything.
> A legendary story in the book told of a  rich man who came to visit
> the>> cathedral while it was being built, and he  saw a workman carving
> a tiny bird on the inside of a beam . He was puzzled  and asked the man,
> 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird  into a beam that
> will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it.. And the  workman
> replied,
> 'Because God sees.'
>
> I closed the book, feeling the missing  piece fall into place. It was
> almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see  you, Charlotte . I
> see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no  one around you
> does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn  on, no
> cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over.  You
> are building
> a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what  it will become.
>
> At times, my invisibility feels like an  affliction. But it is not a
> disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for  the disease of my
> own self-centeredness . It is the antidote to  my strong, stubborn
> pride.
>
> I keep the right perspective when I see  myself as a great builder. As
> one of the people who show up at a job that  they will never see
> finished, to work on something that their name will  never be on. The
> writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals  could ever
> be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to
> sacrifice to
> that degree.
>
> When I really think about it, I don't want  my son to tell the friend
> he's bringing home from college for  Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4
> in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then  she hand bastes a
> turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the  table.' That
> would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him
> to
> want to come home. And then, if there is  anything more to say to his
> friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'
>
> As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're
> doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will
> marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the  beauty that has been
> added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible  women.
>
> -- 
>
> When babies look beyond you and giggle, maybe they're seeing angels.
> ~Quoted in The Angels' Little Instruction Book by Eileen Elias Freeman, 
> 1994
>
>
>                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
>                       www.trisomyonline.org
>                  Families Helping Families On-line
> 

                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
                       www.trisomyonline.org
                  Families Helping Families On-line

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