SAYING GOODBYE

...surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20b (NIV)

I stood in the driveway, watching my mother's beloved rust bucket Ford Escort station wagon disappear down Mountain Road. It left an ache in my heart. Hot tears escaped my eyes.

The car was Mother's faithful friend, taking her to church and bringing her home every Sunday for sixteen years.

I worried when Mother drove thirty one-miles to church on Sundays. She told me not to worry, Jesus was co-pilot when she got behind the wheel. I prayed He was there protecting her. After all, she was eighty-four when she first moved here and still drove everywhere by herself until her fatal illness at eighty-eight.

It's a blessing to have the wonderful memories of Mother and her car. I used to tease her and tell her she had wheels for feet. She laughed and told me not to forget it either. We were not going to take her keys away. She would know when it was time for her to stop driving.

Mother became progressively ill during her last year with us. She eventually stopped driving so her car stayed parked. She kept the keys.

Sometimes Mother asked me to read her Bible to her when she grew too weak to read. I checked the chapters and read as she lay back in her rocker, exhausted but content. It wasn't long before my sisters and I had to tell her goodbye. We had faith that God's angels took her to heaven. It gave us a chuckle to think of angels driving her to heaven in her beloved rust bucket.

Thank You, Father, for always being with us, especially in the fond memories of our beloved mother and her trusty old car. Amen.

© 2016 Evelyn B. Ryan