Five Minute Friday: MOM

I'm linking up with Kate Motaung today for Five Minute Friday. Today's word is MOM.

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This photo of my daughter (then 12 years old), me, and my mom was taken in 2010, when we were visiting Mom and Dad in PEI. This picture is precious to me now because Mom died four years later at the age of 79, just over two months after being diagnosed with liver cancer.

After our friend did the photo shoot that day, Mom confessed to me that she was a little mortified that he'd chosen the dilapidated old woodhouse as a background. This was probably before Pinterest came on the scene and before the huge burgeoning trend of having wedding photo shoots (and weddings themselves) in old barns and farmyards. 

I assured her that our photographer friend had an artistic eye and that the background was great -- but I guess Mom couldn't quite see the "chic" part of "shabby chic."

Yet I don't think it would have bothered her at all if it was someone else's old gray shed. She was probably a lot more uncomfortable with her own (supposed) imperfections than anybody else's.

But if so, she didn't let that get in the way of sharing what she had with other people -- and that is what made her so good at showing hospitality. I consider that one of my mom's best gifts. She loved to have people over. If the church needed people to host billets, she would eagerly volunteer; she loved getting to know people from different places. Whatever concern she might have had about whether things were perfect or not, she never let it stop her from giving a warm welcome.

We all have flaws we might prefer the world not see -- but they don't have to hold us back from welcoming and sharing with others. In fact, we might be surprised to find that the things we think are a little shabby actually look quite beautiful to other people.

That's something my mom taught me, not so much with her words, as with her actions.

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