Finally threw out that single black glove...

It came into the house in a bag of stuff cleaned out of the car in 2006. The other most likely fell out of the car in a random parking lot and has disintegrated into dust by now. The bag stayed in the laundry room waiting to be sorted through until yesterday. After sifting through the entire bag of old un-opened junk mail and stuff, well over 50 things were let go of. In fact only 3 things were kept; a wrench, an envelope of bank statements and a little booklet called "a Glimmer of Hope".

My mother used to be on all the charity mailing lists and they send "items" in their mailings to entice the recipient to send a contribution. She would sometimes give them to me as encouragement, telling me in her "know it all annoying mom way", that I would get through the tough times. In these uncertain economic times it is easy to begin to feel like all that you have worked for is hanging on the edge. You hold on so tight trying to keep everything balanced and struggle to get ahead. Bills seem to grow rapidly and savings wither away. Success defined by these parameters leaves us with a sense of immanent failure and questioning life and purpose.

Mom still finds a way to pop up, like now with her words of wisdom beyond the grave. Every once in a while a mailing shows up addressed to her or I come across something she left behind at just the right time. This time, it was an entry in this little booklet;

Life
by Garnett Ann Schultz

A star, a moon aglow,
An April rain, December snow,
A bursting bud, a rose in bloom,
A breaking dawn, a harvest moon...

A happy smile, perhaps a tear,
The longest mile, the shortest year,
A butterfly, a bird in flight,
A happy day, a lonely night...

A cotton cloud, a sky of blue,
A gentle touch, a dream come true,
To reach success, and know we are blessed –
It’s all of these that make it best.