My Mom Was a Nut . . . Just Like Me!

I grew up with parents who appreciated beauty. I remember whining one day about being bored. My daddy said (honestly, he really said this), "Sweetie, how in the world can you be bored as long as there is a blade of grass left unexplored?" wow.

My mom loved our picture window looking out to our backyard. She kept a beautiful garden and showed us the various birds and pointed out the different characteristics of each type of bird. Sometimes our dinner conversation centered around the wildlife activity in our own backyard!

Momma shared one day with me about an occurrence that had happened shortly after she moved to Birmingham. She was twenty years old and had moved from a small town in Mississippi to the big, booming town of Birmingham. She was living in a boarding house and working to make it on her own. Each day she took the city bus to work and back home again.

This one particular day, Mom looked out the window of the bus and noticed the most beautiful sunset she had ever seen, she said. Instead of taking in it's beauty and smiling inwardly, Mom exclaimed to all the strangers on the bus, "Wow! Just look at that sunset! Isn't that the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?!" As Mom told it, the other passengers looked at her as if she was someone to be afraid of. Very afraid. They went back to reading their papers or books with one eye fixed on the crazy woman.


The other day I was in a co-worker's office giving some training to some new employees. When I noticed a hummingbird at the feeder just outside. I stopped the training and told the new staff members about it. A.D.D.? Maybe. Appreciator of beauty. Definitely.



When we went to Europe several years ago I would get so enamored with taking photos of sunsets, flowers, people, making sure my composition was just so. Toward the end of the trip I got the bright idea to take photos of beautiful doors...and there were soooo many beautiful doors.

Being behind a camera catching beauty seems like an excusable reason for appreciating beauty. I think I need to look into photography a little more closely. Not for a business, just for pleasure.

Mystified,
Lila