I love you more than tongue can tell
“My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.” Proverbs 1: 8-9 KJV
When I was very young (yes, I was young at one time), we use to go to my grandparents’ house all the time. At the time, I never really realized why that was. My Mom was the oldest of nine kids. Her brothers and sisters were spaced pretty well apart. In fact, her youngest brother, my uncle, is only a year and a half older than me. When I was young, it seemed like every weekend we went down to my grandparents’ house. My youngest uncle and I would always play together. We would play war, cowboys and Indians, and go for adventures in the woods. Remember, these were the days without video games. We had to use our imaginations.
I also had other great aunts and great uncles that lived close to my grandparents. My sister and I would go visit them, too. They would give us a coke and some cookies, which my parents rarely ever did. That made those visits very special and I still remember a lot of them till this day.
One day, my sister and I and maybe my very little brother were over at one of our great aunt’s house. I really didn’t think much of it because we had done it so many times before. My Dad came over to get us, which was a little unusual. We usually walked back to my grandparents’ house on our own. Dad didn’t quite seem like himself. As we reached the end of my great aunt’s driveway and started to turn toward my grandparent’s house, my Dad started to talk to us. I only remember the first few words of the conversation. He said, “Do you remember how Jesus died on the cross?” It was then that I really realized why we had spent so many weekends at my grandparents. My Mom’s mother, my grandmother, had died, after a long battle with cancer, that day.
My parents were not the type to say “I love you.” I have never doubted their love, though. If my parents ask what I want for Christmas or a birthday, I have to be very careful with my answer. If I tell them I want a Presidential campaign button, I will end up with fifteen or twenty of them. If my brother, sister or I ever need them for any reason, they will drop everything they are doing to help out. If we did something really stupid or veer off in a direction they “didn’t raise us” to, they were still always there for us. My parents thought love was an action word, not a saying word. I am very lucky to have such great parents.
He could have taken the easy way out and just jumped right into the family business. His father was very successful in a partnership at an investment house. But he chose his own way and headed out to West Texas. Eventually he moved his family to Odessa, Texas. They moved in a duplex that had an indoor bathroom, which was rare in those days of outhouses. They shared the bathroom with a couple of prostitutes. He worked his way up in the oil business. One day he decided to form a partnership with another guy. Since there was an oil boom going on, they knew they had to choose a name that would stand out. They decided that the company name needed to start with the letters “A” or “Z.” That would put them to the front or the back of the listings and not mixed up in the middle with a bunch of other companies. They chose the name Zapata Petroleum Corporation. This was after the Marlon Brando movie Viva Zapata which was playing at the local movie theater at the time.
He was a family man. In those days men weren’t real involved in the family, but he was more involved than his father had been the generation before. His son would write: “In our early years, my father was not a hugger, nor did he say ‘I love you.’ But he didn’t need to. We always knew that he loved us unconditionally.” His first child, a son, was born in 1946. Three years later his second child, a girl, who they named Robin, was born.
When you read through the Bible, it is his story that stands out the most. His love really knew no bounds. He could make any cloudy day turn sunny. He was so wise, too. It was as though he could look at any situation and tell you the proper way to handle yourself. If you didn’t take his advice and went in another direction, later in life, you would look back and wish you did. But no matter the result, he was always there waiting for you when you got back.
I once took one of those question and answer surveys that, in the end, would tell you whether you were more like your father or your mother. As I answered the questions I was sure it was going to tell me, by the questions they were asking, that I was more like my Father. It said I was more like my Mother. I chalked it up to just another one of those silly question and answer things, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it might be true. Although, much like most people, I’m probably a good mixture of both.
When I was growing up some of the most important things I learned in life began when my Mother would start a sentence with: “I can’t believe….” She might say, “I can’t believe a child would act that way.” Or she might say, “I can’t believe a man would treat his wife that way.” I really took a lot of notes, in my mind, because I have tried very hard not to be like the things she saw as negatives.
When Robin turned three years old, her parents took her to see the doctor. The doctor told them that their daughter had leukemia and she probably only had a few weeks to live. They got a second opinion and took her to New York. By doing this they were probably able to extend her life a little longer, but things were not looking very bright.
On October 11, 1953, George HW Bush held his dying daughter, Robin in his arms. She looked at him with her beautiful blue eyes and said to him, “I love you more than tongue can tell.” She died a short time afterwards.
In the movie Joshua there is a scene where a priest is explaining the Bible to someone. He said something along the lines of, “The BIBLE – it means Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.” That is very true, but I also believe it is a love story. It is a story of how God loved us so much that He was willing to do almost anything to have us by His side for eternity. He has given us instructions, but even if we screw them up, He is always there waiting for us. I guess you might say He loves us more than tongue can tell.
Mothers often get the hard task of doing most of the child rearing. I’m not so sure they get all the appreciation they deserve for all the efforts they put into it. It is sometimes so hard to let someone know that you really appreciate all they do, especially good old Mom. Mom, I really do appreciate all you have ever done for me and for being the great Mom you are. I also want to let you know, I love you more than the tongue can tell.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Thank you for the great Mother you gave me. Her very caring heart and humble love have not gone unnoticed with me. Thank you for someone so special to call Mom. Amen.
