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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
THE ROSARY by Gwen M. Plano<\/p>\n
Young or old, we are all children at heart. This truth became apparent to me last December when I had neurosurgery.<\/p>\n
Prior to the operation, a clerk handed me a stack of documents to sign\u2014billing forms for the hospital and the doctors and several medical release forms that included a list of potential risks. My apprehension grew as I fingered through the papers and provided my signature. It was then that I wished that my mom could be with me. Like any child, I thought she could make it all better. But sadly, she had passed away nine months prior.<\/p>\n
My mom was a person of prayer, and when I was young, she\u2019d gather her seven children, tell us to get on our knees, and then proceed to pray. We\u2019d follow her lead\u2014usually protesting\u2014and pray for family members, friends, and the unknown masses. Often, she led us in saying the rosary. Prayer was my mom\u2019s response to any challenge or difficulty, and we had plenty of both on our farm.<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s most common expression was, \u201cJesus, Mary, and Joseph!\u201d While some of us might curse or yell in frustration, Mom would say this phrase instead. So, when one of my brothers sent a golf ball through the picture window, Mom called out \u201cJesus, Mary, and Joseph!\u201d before scolding him. When we siblings squabbled with one another, Mom would mutter, \u201cJesus, Mary, and Joseph!\u201d before sending us to our bedrooms. Without exception, we grew up knowing that when Mom said \u201cJesus, Mary, and Joseph,\u201d we were in trouble.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t remember a time when Mom wasn\u2019t praying. Whether washing the dishes, hanging the wash on the clothesline, working in the garden, or driving us to a sporting event or a 4-H meeting, Mom quietly prayed. I asked her about this once, and her response left an indelible impression.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife is short,\u201d she began, \u201cand we must use every moment to the fullest. People need our prayers, and some don\u2019t have a family to pray for them like we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t understand her comment about using every moment to the fullest until I grew older. But her explanation helped me grasp why she rarely watched television and why she rushed from one room to another throughout the day.<\/p>\n
When Mom passed at ninety-two years of age, she left a legacy of beliefs and practices that had found a place in the heart of each of her children. We may have complained about kneeling on the hard floor, but even as little tykes, prayer became part of our lives because of our mother.<\/p>\n
At her passing, we were bereft. Mom was our strength, our compass. She was the one we called about concerns, both large and small; she was the one we talked with about our hopes and dreams. Her passing left a huge emptiness that still echoes in our memories. When we sorted through her belongings, not so surprisingly, we discovered she had a dozen or so rosaries. I received two of them.<\/p>\n
When I checked into Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, I took my mom\u2019s wooden rosary with me. I felt her near when I held it, and this sensation gave me comfort. I held the beads tightly and imagined Mom with me.<\/p>\n
After the surgery, I was rolled into a room on the Pain Floor where all neurosurgery patients were housed. Next to me was an adjustable overbed table, and when I awakened, I realized that my mom\u2019s rosary rested on it.<\/p>\n
My nurse, Lucy, regularly came in to check on me, and each time she walked through the door, she sang a refrain which included the words, our lady of the rosary. I was surprised by this, because Cedars Sinai is a Jewish hospital. After Lucy left, an aide visited, and she explained that her sister was a nun, and my rosary reminded her of this sister. Later, the night nurse came in and told me about immigrating to the US and how she loved the rosary.<\/p>\n
During my hospital stay, one staff person after another visited me and shared family stories and photos\u2014all evoked by the rosary that rested on the overbed table. As I was preparing to leave, Lucy came in to say her goodbyes. She pulled a photo from her pocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my mom,\u201d she proudly stated. \u201cI thought you\u2019d like to see her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The image was of a petite woman, hunched over by time, smiling broadly at the camera. She stood next to her much-larger daughter, Lucy. I was stunned; she looked like my mom.<\/p>\n
As the hospital staff came to say goodbye and wish me well, I suddenly realized that Mom had been with me the whole while. I had been loved and cared for by many at the hospital, but it was Mom who drew them near with her rosary.<\/p>\n
We ask that you also check out their books in the RWISA<\/strong> or RRBC<\/strong> catalogs.\u00a0 Thanks, again for your support and we hope that you will follow each member along this amazing tour of talent!\u00a0 Don’t forget to click the link below to learn more about this author:<\/p>\n Gwen M. Plano’s RWISA Author Page<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE ROSARY by Gwen M. Plano Young or old, we are all children at heart. This truth became apparent to me last December when I had neurosurgery. Prior to the operation, a clerk handed me a stack of documents to sign\u2014billing forms for the hospital and the doctors and several medical release forms that included … Continue reading “Welcome to the WATCH “RWISA” WRITE Showcase Tour! #RRBC #RWISA”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,3,1],"tags":[663,537,657],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-topics","category-general","category-uncategorized","tag-gwen-plano","tag-rrbc","tag-rwisa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9wA33-iT","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1175,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions\/1175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Gwen](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Gwen-Plano-240x300.jpg?resize=145%2C181&ssl=1\")
Thank you for supporting this member along the WATCH “RWISA” WRITE Showcase Tour <\/strong>today!\u00a0 We ask that if you have enjoyed this member’s writing, please visit their Author Page on the RWISA<\/strong> site, where you can find more of their writing, along with their contact and social media links, if they’ve turned you into a fan.<\/p>\n