Mother: My Steel Magnolia

I love the movie Steel Magnolias.  The women are Southern, strong, and sassy.  

There is a scene in this movie that so reminds me of my mother.  The family has made the painful decision to let Shelby go.  The machines are turned off.  Shelby's father and husband say their goodbyes and leave, unable to be there when she dies.  However, her mother, M'Lynn, stays until the very end.

She was the only one.

She stayed by her daughter's side the whole time

Until her last breath was drawn.

Sitting in the waiting room are the men, shell shocked and full of indecision. M'Lynn, weary with physical and emotional exhaustion from the ordeal, walks in and pans the room. With the strength and clarity that only a steel magnolia could muster, M'Lynn remembers all the details that must be done and puts the men to work. 

The right clothes.

The right funeral home.

And then she is off...

To find the closest thing to her daughter she can find.

Her daughter's son.

My mother was there for me like that.  

Though she didn't lose her son, she loved Steve like a son.

And like the steel magnolia she is, 

She remembered all the details that had to be done and did them.

And she cared for my sons

Because they were the closest thing to Steve she could find.

And she cares for them still.

I am blessed.

27

Cyna