Sally Sue

“The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings.”  2 John 1:13 NIV

I have four sisters and one brother.  I am the youngest of the six with my next youngest sibling being my sister Sally.  Our parents were fairly strict and really the oldest of my siblings had a harder road than I did.  Mom and dad still had energy to fight the resistance of the oldest kids.

Sally sort of changed that.  She had a stronger will and probably a more active imagination about how to get away with things than some of my other siblings.  She sort of cleared the way for me a bit. 

If you left a light on in our house my dad formed a one man militia to find out who had caused him to work overtime and to make sure we all knew electricity was expensive.  Myself, and four other siblings would simply apologize and move on.  Not Sally.  I remember the day she said, “Really dad, wouldn’t that mean you would have saved money by just turning it off yourself instead of waiting for me?”  That’s a valid point, but I am still a little surprised that I had four sisters after that. 

Although it is slightly embarrassing, she once convinced me, the youngest and most vulnerable, that she had learned how to count cracks in the surface of your brain to see how smart you were.  She looked and looked and pulled my hair out of the way smacked me around and then sat down to break the news to me that I was, in fact, an idiot. 

I was the first college graduate in our family, but she was smarter than I ever was.  She made me do homework like I was defending a dissertation.  If I had a paper due, she would read it and correct it and tell me how to make it better.  My love of writing started with her.  She was a tough teacher, but she loved it and she taught me to love it as well.  To this day she reads these posts partly because she loves me, but mostly to check my grammar.  Fact.

The best evidence of a great parent shows up in their kids and she has three daughters who are some of the best people I know.  Her standards were high, and they exceeded them.  I asked them what they would want people to know about her and what Sally should know about herself.  Their responses deserved to be stated, I could not get myself to shorten them so here is what her kids want you to know about her.

“That she is the best mom and grandma to her babies and we are all very grateful for everything she's so selflessly does for us.  She has such a big heart and even with her bad eyes she somehow still sees the needs of all those around her whether it's one of us or a homeless person on the street.  She follows God's call on her life so well and I have seen her be braver in the past few years in her faith than I have ever before which is pretty extraordinary and she should definitely always follow His directions because her bad sense of direction is legendary”.

“Sally Sue.  First of all, she will kill you for exposing her middle name.  She's a child whisperer.  All kids love her and will do anything she asks.  She can take a Binky and potty train a child in a weekend and she can keep eight grandkids, feed them their weekly serving of vegetables in an evening, shower them and have them sound asleep by 8:30.  She is a prayer warrior, always remaining faithful.  She notices the needs of others and trusts God always.  She does a great job teaching her grandkids the love of Jesus”. 

“She is frugal and loves to remind me that she would never buy a Starbucks drink while I am holding one.  She is a great writer and edited papers, resumes and essays through college.  She has high expectations and often teaches kids things that are so out of their age range it's almost funny but then she smiles when they prove her right.  She is an advocate for all children and if she hears of a kid who is cold, hungry, sad or thirsty she's got them.  She'll sneak that kiddo a snack or a coat.  She'll find a way”.

“She never brings a child anywhere without a cup of water.  In fact, she's almost accused me of child abuse for going somewhere without a water cup for CiCi.  She keeps my dad in line, which is an admirable job in itself.  She is spoiled rotten by my dad and literally has put gas in her car maybe 10 times that I can remember.  Seriously, she had her car for years before she knew what side the tank was on.  She doesn't waste anything, and she can make soup out of any leftover.  She loves to bake but what's so special is that she loves to bake with her grandkids.  She'll teach them to crack eggs and sit patiently while they make a mess with their flower.  It never bothers her and if I had done that, she'd lose her mind.”

“A great mom and an even better grandma.  My dad and her are a great example of fierce protectors of each other.  I personally love that their story didn't start all sunshine and rainbows, but love each other at their best, tolerate each other at their worst.  Hard worker whether it's in the kitchen cleaning her house or caring for her grandkids.  She is the most frugal person I probably know and is the absolute best garage sale finder.  It's like she has a radar for finding a good garage sale.  To go along with that, I think the only two times I've heard her use my middle name in adult life is when I tell her how much I've overspent on something or if I've cussed, which is rare.  She loves Jesus and is a fierce prayer warrior.”

I asked them if I should ask her husband to comment and got this reply “He can’t keep a secret and she will meddle.”  Actually, that was me.  Danny has been showing her how much he loves her since the day they met, but I wanted this to be a surprise, so I did not ask him formally. 

Do the people around you know what they mean to you?  Sally, I want you to see how much you mean to the people around you. 

It doesn't matter if your life looks completely different than you thought it would.  It’s even better.

Challenge:  Be the same person, every day for long enough and that will be the only thing people think of you. 

Rick Claiborn