Mimi IIII: Left Behind

After kids, grandkids and great grandkids picked out what they wanted to keep from Mimi’s possessions, my brothers, their spouses and Cheryl and I worked long hours to bag and box up my mother’s earthly possessions to give to a Christian thrift store. We could not believe how many clothes Mama had tucked away in three different closets and in nooks and crannies. Some of them had never been used because she was saving them.

 As my mother moved into her senior years, she became more and more adamant about saving for future use. Her kids and grandchildren would give her gifts for special events, but she would rarely use them because she wanted to save them. This is a trait of the silent generation as they experienced many hardships during their childhood and youth.  

Mimi was born in 1930, so she was part of the silent generation which includes people who were born between 1928 and 1945 and lived through the Great Depression and World War II. When the Silent Generation grew up, cultural and social influences emphasized qualities like hard work, loyalty, and thriftiness.

Mimi did not have much in material possessions, but the items from Mimi’s home that we picked out to keep will remind us of her. However, we cherish the legacy that my mother left more than anything. That legacy is all about the values that our Pete and Mimi left behind. They practiced their values more than they talked about their valuables, and that helped shape me into the man I am today.

The most important value that they instilled in me was to love the Lord God with all my heart, all my soul and all my might and to worship Him and serve Him daily in my family. with my friends, and in my church.

Another value that they imprinted on me was to persevere in the face of adversity. My parents showed me the meaning of resiliency. They often told me that when I experience challenges not to tuck my chin and feel sorry for myself, but to get off my butt and get to doing something about it.

My mother and dad had an extremely strong work ethic that included pursuing tasks until they are completed well and working as hard as needed to get a job done. Often, they told me, “Anything worth doing is worth doing right.”

While growing up I hated my parents’ frugality. I did not have all the “things” that my classmates had, but I learned later that their frugality was just wisdom about what to buy, when to buy and how much to pay.

I watched my parents write a check to our church every Sunday, and they always made sure that I had money to place in my church envelope and give to my Sunday School teacher. I also observed Mimi and Pete give to other people when they were in need. They taught me to be generous and I am most happy about that today. And to this day I would rather give than receive.

Mimi and Pete did not argue over money. We had all our needs and many of our wants, and God took care of our family. The second most important thing I learned from Mimi and Pete was that one’s values are much more important than one’s valuables.

I love Proverbs 13:22: “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children.” I believe that the writer of Proverbs was not talking about financial wealth, but the wealth of values. A true legacy is not about how much you leave for your family, but more about what you leave in your family.