By Shannon Williams
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy
Gratitude, being grateful, thankful we were spared, it is what we all are feeling now. It is a humble feeling, as we look at what could have been and start each new day on our beloved Crystal Beach.

Last week was a rough one for many of us, we left our homes not knowing what we would return to. I am from West Texas (full disclosure here, I spent the first 10 weeks of my life in Idaho, so I got to Texas as soon as I could !!) and we do fire and tornado, where you just have enough time to kiss someone and run or hide. It was paralyzing for me, I had so much to do and could not get it going.

On Tuesday as we were working to leave, my husband’s mother had a massive stroke as they were evacuating her from the assisted living. It was heartbreaking and trying to deal with a major medical event during COVID was just more stress. Paul was able to see her that night, but she was unresponsive and remained that way until she died a few days later. Paul was able to kiss his mother and hold her sweet little hands prior to her death. It is the one thing I am most grateful for. He had not been able to physically touch her since March. I know she felt both of her sons near.

Many of you had met Jo Williams at our home; you see Jo was the type of mother who not only knew her sons’ friends, but considered them her friends, and they were! Even in her late 80’s, she still was a guest at all of our parties! She loved a gathering with food and friends and came to all of our crawfish boils and gumbo gatherings. After she was moved to assisted living, we would break her out and bring her down to sit on the porch. She was also a West Texas girl who moved to the gulf coast to follow her man (just like me). She was the wonderful combination of strong and sweet, that comes from life’s struggles and the recovery from them.

One of her favorite things to do was to go to Lowes and find the plants on the clearance rack and bring them back to life. I have several in my garden that she “rehabbed “. You could not go to her home without getting a tour of her garden and hearing the stories behind each of her plants. She raised 3 hardworking, hard loving sons and loved each of their spouses as her very own daughter. As we are preparing to celebrate her life, we were making sure that we got the count right on grandchildren (9) Great grandchildren (18) and great-great grandchildren (3). Melba Jo will live on in all of us and each of us wish we could once again hear her say “let me tell you something”. So Bee grateful for all we were given this past week and for the people in your life as they may not be there tomorrow.

[August-31-2020]