Dear Sisters:
Our moms - they are the memory keepers. If you need to know where to find a tangible item to help you celebrate a memory of your past, they have just what you are looking for. They have the old photo albums on bookshelves, in special cabinets or closets. These photo albums are packed with captured moments - moments that leave proof of us in a time in history. In the pictures, there are reminders that we were once little, we were once young. We celebrated Christmas in childlike style, we had birthday parties, we had a gang of friends and we indeed looked dorky in our teenage fashions and hairstyles of the day. Moms have the hope chests and storage boxes marked "your name" on them. Inside, these boxes are filled with memorabilia from your past. Your first pair of shoes, they got it. Your favorite childhood toy - they know just where it is stored. Your prom dress - mom's got you covered. Your first baby picture or your birth certificate - no worries mom's got your back. You see, she has your baby book! That's the place where "ancient" memories are recorded. Mom has journaled those early years of your life. They are so valuable to us because we don't remember those days, but Mom does and she delighted in being your memory keeper.
Kendall and I were looking through our baby books the other night. I had to find a baby picture for something our pastor is cooking up with our staff. So, off to my baby book I went. I not only found a baby picture, but I found written on the pages memories of me written by my mom. As my memory scribe, she captured things about me that I could not have known. I can only imagine her with pen in hand pouring over those pages in the quiet of the night after everyone had gone to sleep, recalling and recording special moments of the day. Or, I can imagine my mother running to the baby book to write about something that had just happened, something that had to be captured immediately. So in the moment of excitement, mom rushed to splash a memory on the page for me. She recorded these things not only so she could remember that moment, but also for those words to be there for me to enjoy one day.
Mom wrote some fun things about me in my pink, silk covered baby book with little white sheep on the front titled "Babyhood Years." By the way, my big brothers always called me Cherri because I was born on George Washington's birthday and he chopped down the cherry tree. And, truth is, they hated the name Cheryle. Here are some of Mom's entries in my baby book…
"Cherri loved music and at 4 months she had her own records and record player. She would sway back and forth. She talked extra early."
"Cherri got a horse on springs for her first Christmas and needed no prompting at all. She rode him all day. She called him Charley and he remained her favorite toy for a long time. Her camel is a big ugly brute but to her he is beautiful. She picked him out long before Christmas. She dearly loves him and he always gets a sugar and a hug easier than any other toy."
"On Cherri's first birthday, she is a very happy, sassy little girl. Still not much hair. She has 7 teeth and can walk when and if she chooses. She says many words. She loves books and records and stuffed toys. She loves her Daddy and her brothers. Needless to say they are rather taken with her too. Daddy calls her punkin and she can get a lot of mileage out of a little old sugar when applied to her Daddy at just the right time."
"By the time she was 18 months her vocabulary was amazing. At 2, she could carry on a good conversation. She was very bossy with her brothers and tried to correct them in exactly my tone of voice and words. She has a very vivid imagination."
After Kendall and I looked through the pages of my baby book, she decided to take a journey through her baby book. She laughed at some of the entries I made. She got tickled at things like…
"I had trouble getting Kendall to eat baby cereal for the first time. After I decided to add a little sugar to her cereal, she gobbled it down."
"The first time Kendall ate strained vegetables and strained meat, she gagged and vomited. We even have it recorded on film!"
"The first time Kendall said Mommy was on Mother's Day."
"At 18 months, Kendall didn't care much for Santa."
"My reaction to Kendall's first day of school: I cried the night before. After dropping her off, I cried all the way home." Kendall's reaction to her first day of school: She was very brave. Later in the day she fell off the monkey bars and hurt her hip."
Only our moms would track and record intimate and special moments like these. Only our moms would get excited about taping a lock of hair in our baby book after our first haircut, or making sure our tiny footprint is stamped inside for prosperity sake. Moms record the "firsts" of our lives. Moms record when we said our first word, memories of our first birthday party, when we took our first step or when we smiled for the first time. Our moms continue to keep track of our lives, helping us hold on to the joys, the achievements, the celebrations and the moments that worked together to mold us into the women we are today. Here's to our moms, the memory keepers. To them, our story is one worth preserving. On pages, in albums, in hope chests and boxes, time stands still and we are a unique and treasured part of history, at least in their hearts.
Cheryle Jaggers
Women's Ministry Coordinator