The Lady in the Craft Store

I pray that everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and that everyone was able to share some wonderful time with your family making memories.  I have but 3 more days of vacation, spending time with my two babies.  I didn't get nearly accomplished that I had hoped, but I did get to see them learn and experience some of life's most important lessons. I will share one of those with you today, and hope it brings you a little smile.

When, if, I waste my valuable time watching TV, its almost always on some type of history related show.  I absolutely love anything about history.  I've even been known to watch ghost hunter shows, only to hear about the unique history of a building....I could care less about hunting ghosts!

One of my favorite periods to learn about is World War II.  I cannot soak in enough about this era, so we were watching a show about the Nazi's.  My sweet Flower had a horrified look in her face when she looked at me, and the conversation went something like this:

Momma, I think this just cannot be true.
And why is that?
I just don't think there is anyone who can be that mean, cruel, and hate other people so much, that they kill them just because of what they believe.
Well, unfortunately, there were, and still are, people with that much hate in their heart.  And yes, this truly did happen.  Never forget it, and learn from it.
Yes, but mom,. it was so long ago.  I mean, I bet we don't even know one person who could tell us about how it really was then.


I began telling her stories of how my Grandfather fought in World War II.  Told her how a very dear friend of mine's grandfather was actually in the SS during this time.  Told her about another friend I have who's grandmother was in a concentration camp.  She was blown away, when I began connecting people we know very well to a story on TV....we knew someone from almost every side of that war.


We went on about our day.  Drove an hour to go shopping with some Christmas money we had received.  Our last stop was at Hobby Lobby, and I was, of course, on the knitting supply aisle.  A lovely elderly lady was just a few feet away from us.  My girl said "MOM!  Can I get some more yarn to finish my scarf with?"  I  told her no, that she needed to finish knitting what she already had first.  "You never do, mom."  She caught me....do as I say, not as I do!  Right then, this lady said "Excuse me, but I couldn't help but over hear your conversation with your daughter.  Did she say she knits?"  "Yes ma'am", I said, "She certainly does.  Still learning, of course, but doing very well."  Her face lit up, and was so happy to hear that this little 7 year old knew how to knit.  I will shorten the story., but you will get the gist.  It started like this:

"Back ages ago, when I was not much older than you, my mother taught me to knit.  My very first project was an olive drab sweater, size 46, for a young man.  You see, this was back during The War, and we ladies did anythin' we could for those fightin' boys.  I knew that young man was fightin' off them 'natzees', and he needed something to keep himself warm....


45 minutes later, we learned that she married one of those fightin' boys, but the last few years were a bit harder, because the Lord called him home.

I struggled to keep the tears back.

Flower was entranced.  I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was not ready for the story to be over.  She even asked if we could invite her to our house for tea.  My Flower learned that the stories she saw on TV were much, much more than stories.  They were personal.  The lady she saw working on fighter jets on the show?  Well, that could easily have been the woman we just spoke with.  The soldier she saw rescuing Jews from the concentration camp?  That could have been her great-pa. There are people who remember those days as well as you and I remember what we had for breakfast.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you, to that sweet little old lady in Hobby Lobby.  I fell in love with her!
Let's remember a few things, too.
If we do not learn from history, we will repeat history!
We have "fightin' boys" now, too.  I'm not a huge supporter of this, but we have fightin' ladies, too.  We need to always remember them, pray for them, and support them, regardless of how you feel about that war being fought.   Their job is not to choose, but to do the duty they signed up to do.