Different Does Not Mean <

Different does not mean less than… or, does it?

I was recently contacted by an adult Daughter, concerning her elderly Mother’s home. The Daughter was driving in from out of state, and planned to return to her home, with her Mother in tow. The Daughter went into great detail, to explain the heartbreak her Mother was dealing with, in abandoning the family home. She asked that I not “muddy the waters” for her Mother, and to discuss the details with her.

As I pulled up to the home, I could see the love it once held. Flowering shrubs, the remnants of a large garden, a covered back porch, that held so many chairs for her loved ones to reminisce. I knocked. The Daughter met me at the door, and with an understanding nod, I entered the time capsule.

As I turned the corner to the living room, sitting on an overstuffed couch, was the Matriarch of the family. It took me a split-second to see that this woman was a force. I bowed my head with respect, introduced myself, and asked her why she thought it was her “time to go”. Her head raised, she looked me straight in the eyes, and in the strongest accent I have ever heard, said “I am an old woman.”.

The conversation did not stop there. The Matriach showed me her family, told me about her Husband, her children, her grandchildren, her calloused hands, and the delicate linens they created. We spoke of her journey to the United States, the fall of the Berlin Wall, her faith…