Sheila Sims Iding
I don’t do goodbyes. You know that. I am horrible at goodbyes. So in place of goodbyes…when it is time for…you know…goodbyes…I say “thank you.”
Today took Timothy away from our family again. So today should have been a goodbye kind of day but as we stood at the airport for him to catch a plane that will literally take him half-way around the world, I couldn’t say goodbye. So I said thank you.
Thank you for that Christmas Eve morning arrival at this same airport. I won’t forget you coming through those doors at customs and how Adam saw you first. The thrill of Christmas came alive at that arrival gate.
Thank you for how you so eagerly unpacked the gifts you brought from your beloved China. Even more…thank you for how carefully you chose them for each of us.
Thank you for your effort to stay awake for Christmas Eve mass and how you laughed that our dinner was at the Japanese Steakhouse and your first American meal was rice. (Sorry about that.)
Thank you for Christmas and how you drifted in and out of a jet-lagged fog. The picture of you sleeping by your unopened gifts was special because you were in our family room. Even asleep…you were where family should be…in our family room. You were our true Christmas “presence”.
Thank you for the visits with your friends and how they graced our home and your plans. Thank you for introducing us to your friends in China via iPad and via desire to connect us all.
Thank you for the gifts from China that others sent to me because they honor the mother so much. Such beautiful, native gifts to add to my Chinese collection. I truly do feel honored.
Thank you for taking the scarves I made for each of them back as a way of honoring their kindness to me. Each stitch that I knitted I was aware they would leave here and travel with you to China. Mostly, thank you for your appreciation of these gifts and the recurrent “Thank you, Mom. It’s beautiful.”’s as I completed each one.
Thank you for all the family times that were specially made so we could keep the memories of them. For dinners all together, breakfast with Aunt B, and a steady Mexican food menu to tide you over the next ½ year. Thank you for our special day together last Friday.
Thank you for brother times. The MSU games, the outings, the dinners that were with brothers. Thank you for saying ‘yes” to Joey’s request for you and Adam to be his best men. It was fitting request because you both truly are his best men.
Thank you for sister times. For sitting and chatting with your friend and soon to be sister, Addie. Watching you two interact made me realize God had a plan all along. He knew you would lead Joey and Addie together.
Thank you for devouring all the cheese, chocolate milk and burger you could.
Thank you for an amazing check up at cystic fibrosis clinic and the faith-filled prayers that preceded it…and the thank-filled prayers that followed.
Thank you for teaching the saints. The rush of the kids to hug you, the sincerity of their questions, the eagerness of their learning reinforces the special ministry of your teaching the saints. I wish you could see all their eyes when you teach. It is a testimony to the special bond between these saint students and their saint teacher.
Thank you for that corner of the couch you always seem to occupy, your perch at the kitchen counter and that place in the pew next to me at church. I will look at those places now and miss you most.
Thank you for a light on in your bedroom, your books strewn haphazardly, your running shoes by the door and your earphones always daggling from something.
Thank you for the excitement Ollie felt when you first got home, for how you cared for him during the day, for how he would lay by you on the couch as you visited with friends in China. He will really miss you…again.
Thank you for the nightly exchange of “good night, love you, see you in the morning”. The “I love you” part will stay the same but my “good night” will be your “good morning”. And it’s the “see you in the morning” part I will miss most.
Mostly…thank you for your hugs, your love, your advice, your prayers, your wisdom, your care, your very being in our house…in our family.
Lastly, thank you for loving China. Thank you for standing at an airport eager to go back to the land and the people you love so much. Thank you for yearning to do God’s work in such a special way. Thank you for following your missionary heart. Thank you for your desire to be back “home” again in China. Vaya con Dios, Timothy. Vaya con Dios.
Special note: I am not a very brave mom. I tried to learn from Grandma Barrons who so gracefully let Brian leave each time. But I am not that brave yet. I wrote this last night home while you were still home and while you sat next to me on the couch. Tomorrow night you will be headed “home” and I will not feel much like writing. Tomorrow night I won’t be brave enough to write. I won’t be writing. I will be crying…not goodbye tears…you know…thank you tears instead.
PS: I was almost brave until he said “I left your Mother’s Day card on your night stand.”