I wrote awhile back about how my Ma loved to dance. In secret, of course. I find it just awesome that every day Jimmy, Maddy, and I find a moment to fall in time with the music, probably country in nature, and dance. Watching those little feet bouncing, kicking, and tapping makes me feel happy, lucky, and proud...and it gives my heart a tug all at the same time. Life really does come full circle.
The other day, Jimmy was listening to his "iPot" (as he calls it), and found our wedding song: The Luckiest. I honestly have only heard it a handful of times in the years since we married. Each time I hear it, I can close my eyes and be right back to June 26, 2010. It was the happiest day of my life, I hope Big Jim's life- ha ha, and of my parents' lives... I know this because they both told me so.
.............
In the summer of 2010, once we arrived home from Aruba, my Ma had asked if I had "watched the wedding video yet?"... To which, I answered, "Nope..." I knew this disappointed her but I explained: "I have a memory of that day in my heart and in my mind that I don't want to change. I will watch it when I'm ready...sometime." I'm pretty sure she hung up on me with a "yah, whatever,"... but it's the truth.
..............
So, here we are, close to six years later. Finally, I was ready to watch the video. Ready to see if my memory served me right. Ready to see if my happiness was captured on video. I was ready. And I had my two little loves there with me, ready to see it, too.
What I wasn't ready for was my reaction to seeing her. There she was. Ma. So radiant, so beautiful, so happy. And I cried. A hard, ugly cry.
Little J looked at me and said: "Mommy, don't cry. There's GeeGee. She is happy. And they're (pointing to the people on the dance floor) happy, they're dancin'..."
And he was right: There's no reason to cry. Ma lived her life the best way she knew how: happy. That's how she chose to spend the Time in her Life. And that's how we all should.
And just like that, the memories I have of her last 13 days, spent in the hospital, were instantaneously replaced with this one.
She would be very pleased with that.
After all, nobody puts Margie in a corner.
