Once Upon a Time there was a Little Girl who needed a shot at the doctor’s office. Oh boy was she scared! Her Mother said, “I will watch you, and if you do not cry, I will buy you a Strawberry Float!!!” The Little Girl tried. She winced and gritted her teeth and … she cried.

Her Mother bought her a Strawberry Float anyway. And the Little Girl learned that sometimes trying your hardest is enough, even if you fail.

When first grade came around, the Little Girl wanted to have a birthday party. Oooohhhhhh how she wanted a birthday party! So she invited her whole class over after school for her baby brother’s birthday party. Without telling anyone. They all came.

Her Mother ran to the store, bought more cake, and then laughed after the party ended and the panic subsided. And the Little Girl learned that there are things in this life you just have to throw up your hands and laugh about.

Before she knew it, it was time for the Little Girl to enter that Dread Chamber Of Horrors… Jr. High School. At the end of each day full of awkwardness, walking past groups of Mean People With Nothing To Do to get on the school bus home was a Remarkably Scary Thing.

Often as the Little Girl walked that walk, she would find her Mother waiting at the end of it, to take her for ice cream, and to talk, and to listen. Mostly listen. And the Little Girl learned that listening is a Very Good Thing.

The Little Girl loved to sing and play, and to write down the words and melodies that floated around in her brain. It was hard work, since she had no instrument.

So her Mother saved pennies and nickels and dimes, and bought an old piano with 55 keys that worked and gave it to the Little Girl.

And the Little Girl learned that things do not have to be expensive to be priceless.

The Little Girl played and sang, and played and sang, and scribbled on paper and napkins and receipts and sometimes her hand.

Her Mother listened to every song, and honestly believed they were really good. And the Little Girl learned that “the praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards.”

The Little Girl watched her Mother in good times and bad times, and saw her absolute dedication to the covenants she had made. And the Little Girl learned to be unshakeable in her own commitment to the same covenants.

When the Little Girl had a family of her own, her Mother gave her the Old Rocking Chair from home, and the Sweet Little Spinet piano that had replaced the Old Broken Piano.

And the Little Girl thought of the empty spaces these gifts would leave, and finally learned what it really means to share.

The Little Girl still composes on that Sweet Little Spinet; the Old Rocking Chair moved on with her daughter so she can rock the Grandbabies; the Lessons are her inheritance forever.

Every time she touches the keys on that Sweet Little Spinet, the Little Girl remembers the Lessons her Mother taught her, and learns anew that the best inheritances are the ones bestowed while we live.

Happy M-day mom.