Memories Are Made of This: Bunnies, Churches and Rebirth

Being a teenager in the late 60's and 70's makes me appreciate the phrase "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." I had a poster with that saying hanging in my room, and I am pretty sure all of my friends either had it scribbled on a notebook, had a sticker with the phrase, put it on a collage, or sent a greeting card that said that at one point or another. It is a simplistic phrase, yet the meaning rings true and sometimes we need to stop and think about today as being the first day of the rest of our lives.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. It is a time of rebirth and the feeling that today is the first day of the rest of our lives. Jesus' Resurrection certainly gives hope for us as we live our lives. It is a chance to have a renewal in our lives; a rebirth. Knowing that today is the first day of the rest of my life with that added hope for forgiveness and eternal life makes it a realization that life is indeed worth living.

I have had a year of challenges and changes. I need to stop and remember to start my life again. It is time to move forward. It is time for a rebirth. The dictionary says that rebirth is a noun meaning: a renewed existence, activity, or growth. This is not to say that the events of the year need to be forgotten, rather they need to be remembered and incorporated into the "me" who has to move forward and continue to live a life that is full of hope. Someone once said "that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger." I guess I should be feeling like Hercules right about now!

The life challenges have led to the changes. I am forever changed as a person. My life will never be the same. But today is the first day of the rest of my life.  A time of rebirth. One of the most positive changes as a result of the challenges is having Mom live here in Florida now. I thank God for her every day and I hope the rest of her life will be filled with blessings. I am trying to find as many ways as I can to enjoy having her here. I need those memory-building experiences.

I am trying to record a lot of memories by taking the things from Mom's home and considering the memories they evoke. It has been a great journey and a great way to relive my life. Every item I touch or see moves me in some way. These past couple months have really been a journey full of remembrances. I have looked at things, made decisions about things, packed and unpacked things, decorated Mom's home, my home, and set things aside for each of my children, and some things were given to Porter. The things have been looked at, touched and talked about more than ever. I view this as one of the good aspects of moving. I have learned new things about my family, and I have relived and recalled things about my family. I am happy to be able to share these things.
Today Mom and I did a lot of talking and sharing and we both agreed that we love our things and we love our homes and always have. It is not in a materialistic way, rather it is in a sentimental and loving way. We both have strong feelings about Home Sweet Home. The things in our homes are there not only as decorative items, but they are there as memory inducers. Although Mom's home is now much smaller and 700 miles away from the home she remembers, she still has a lot of her things and has made her new home feel like home because of these things. I have also enjoyed the transition of some of Mom's things into my home and soon into my children's homes. All these changes can really be viewed as simply passing the memories around and giving them a rebirth.

Thinking about Easter, changes, challenges, and moving forward makes me think about my church in Shelby and it makes me think of bunnies. It's hard to think about Easter without thinking of the cute little bunnies that represent one part of the holiday. A lot of people see bunnies and rabbits and think of Mom. She had a collection of rabbits in her home. Through the years this collection grew and changed. She had a counter in her kitchen where these rabbits were displayed. A lot of people gave her more rabbits to add to her collection. One time Jessie was at Mom's house and made mention that there were too many bunnies in this particular spot. The next time I visited, I noticed the quickly multiplying rabbits had noticeably been divided! I found a bunny here and a rabbit there. Mom moved a few to other spots throughout the house and packed up a couple of boxes of others.

When I was in Shelby helping Mom move, several people wanted something to serve as a remembrance of Mom. They got to choose a rabbit or two to take home! That was the only time we were UN-packing boxes.  Now there are rabbits all over Cleveland County (and in Florida) that will forever be a memory for someone of my sweet Mom.

As I move forward remembering that today is the first day of the rest of my life, I remember all the great occasions and events that brought me to this point. There are more than can be recalled that took place at Central United Methodist Church in Shelby. Although I attend a wonderful church here in Clearwater, I suppose I will always consider Central the most important church in my life. Not only is the church beautiful and historic, it is filled with some very wonderful people and some very wonderful memories. I know Mom feels the same way. She had replicas of the church in her home. Truly the church has served its purpose in helping shape me and my family into the people we are today. I have said it many times and I said it to my sister on her deathbed, I am so very thankful that I had wonderful parents who took me to a church that taught me about the love and grace of God. Without that, I am sure I would not have been able to handle the challenges of this past year nor the challenges I have faced throughout my lifetime.

Mom had a decorative plate with a drawing of the church hanging in her kitchen. I am thinking that perhaps we didn't pack it when we moved her to Florida, but if that is the case, it is still hanging on the wall in her kitchen. I hope one day I can go back and get it as it is something that I would like to have and display in my home. It is a lovely reminder of some truly memorable times.

Mom also had a painted cut-out of the church displayed on an easel. I have one just like it that has been proudly displayed on my counter. Whoever painted it did a marvelous job. It is a lovely piece of artwork. I took the one from Mom's house and wrapped it and packed it in a box for Madeline, along with a few other things I knew she would love and appreciate. It won't have quite the same impact on her that it has on me, but I know she will understand the importance that it represents.

Central United Methodist Church is the place where I learned all the wonderful Bible stories that were shared to me as a child. It is where my parents had me baptized and I in turn had all three of my children baptized there. It is where I attended MYF (Youth Group) as a teenager. Not only did we discuss Christian values, we ate hot dogs, made crafts, laughed and sang, went on trips and made friendships that have lasted a lifetime. It was where I met Steve and Rosa Linda, our leaders, and where I departed on my first motorcycle ride. Steve had a motorcycle and gave me a ride home from youth group one night on the back of it! That church is where I made my confirmation, understood the meaning of communion, and sang in both the youth and adult choirs. I got married in that church and taught Sunday School to Kindergartners with my cousin, Ellen, in that church. I attended Vacation Bible School every summer as a child and when I lived in Shelby as an adult, I taught Vacation Bible School there. I attended the funerals of my dear Aunt Madeline, my Daddy, my Uncle Paul, and my sister in that church. I served as Martha's Matron of Honor when she married Bob in that church. I was a happy bridesmaid in my cousin, Ellen's wedding at Central. I led the children out of "big church" before the sermon started and taught them a lesson in the Porter Activity Center. I sent my daughter to pre-school at Central and my son, Joseph, there to youth group.
The memories of that church, both sad and joyous, are too many to re-count but they will be forever ingrained in my heart.

Whether it be a porcelain bunny or a painted cut-out of a church, it is important to have some tangible items in a home to spark a memory of a joy, a loss, or a time in life that you don't ever want to forget. Most importantly, it is inevitable that these items at some point will spark in us a rebirth and an opportunity to realize that today truly is 'the first day of the rest of your life'.