For All The Saints . . .

For All The Saints . . . Alleluia!!

Today is "All Saints Day", and I am reminded of all of those in my own life who have lived and loved and gone on to their eternal rest.  I have a long and extensive history with loss beginning almost at the moment I was born, and yet, when I consider the whole that is my life, I know beyond any shadow of a doubt, that I have been, and continue to be, blessed beyond measure!  I couldn't, if I had to, choose to eliminate any of my experiences, because they have made me who I am.  

I begin my 30 days of expressions of my thankfulness by acknowledging the roles that various people have held in my life as well as those who are still in my life today.  I will move beyond the remembrances tomorrow, but for today,  it is well to remember and be especially thankful!

These special Saints in my life include my biological parents - Dorothy Berenice Davis and Julius Vincent Pierotti.  I never knew either of them personally, but I know ABOUT them, thanks to my Mother's Sister and her family, and my mother's brother and his family, as well as my cousins from my mother's siblings. What an amazing blessing it is to have ongoing relationships with Bill and Tina and Pat and Mary Ellen and Russell and Georgianne and some of their spouses and children and grandchildren.  

Had I been accepted as part of the family from the beginning,  there would have been eleven of us first cousins . . . can you even imagine holiday get-togethers?!  Thanks so much to ALL of you who have included me in your lives as adults, and for all you have taught me about my mother! 

The circle includes also my adopted families - Mary Claire and Tom Sanders and Ethel and Baron Roberts - my adopted sister, Kathryn Brannan, my adoptive Grandparents, Vera Claire and Clanton Shipp, Sr. and Georgia Roberts and Rosalie Sanders and all their children - my aunts and uncles in my two adoptive families.  They were very accepting of my adopted status and contributed much

throughout their lives and mine. 

I remember and am most grateful for the wonderful woman who was, at first, my Caseworker through the Adoption Agency and later my friend - we always had lunch together at the downtown Atlanta Rich's Magnolia Tea Room, nearest my birthday.  She gave me my first doll, which I promptly named Tucker after her.  She came to my "rescue" as a teenager plagued with self-doubt about myself and my "background" after a high school teacher called adoption a "Social Ill". 

I remember her at my wedding, and I remember taking our newborn daughter, Dorothy, to the retirement home she was living in. I wanted Dorothy and Miss Tucker to meet!  

My adopted Granny's birthday was November 10th, and she was one of 

my best friends throughout my life, and she always made me feel loved (yes, even when she was angry with me) as we lived out our lives together, and as both of her daughters were my adoptive mothers.  She died in 1986 just before she would turn 95 and just before I turned 40.  Not many people are blessed with a loving Grandmother for so long into their adult lives.  She would be 122 this year, and I still miss her every day.  I will have lots more to say about her on her day.  

These are just a few of those who have preceded me in death - - - the Saints in my life - - - for whom I am eternally grateful and of whom my memories and love never cease to flow.  

It is an awesome thing to sit and remember that even a small change in the events of my life would have resulted in my never coming to the place in life where I now reside . . . my husband, my daughter,  my best friends, my church, my Hilltop Home, my choices of pets over the years, my music education, my love of photography . . . so many things.  Every time I am tempted to think "Oh Woe is Me",  I stop and remember that "ME" is anything but "woeful".   When I 

remember, I am thankful all over again.  

I think that's enough for right now . . . I'll be back tomorrow . . . 

"For all the saints, who from their labors rest, who Thee, by faith before the world confessed. Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed. Alleluia"