True Family Stories..

This afternoon, while doing  errands with my mother-(a drive to the Goodwill to drop off a bag of clothes, and a stop at the bank), she told me of a family story that I had heard before, but got lost in translation years ago.  Here it goes:   

A little girl lay feverish on her small bed, with city doctor and local nurse at her side.  The mother was frantic in the kitchen.  She had lost a husband, and two infant baby girls years previous, now her eight year old daughter lay in her bed also close to death.  The nurse signaled to the mother with a very sorrowful look on her face.  The little girl had ceased breathing. 

Delirious with the news, the mother ran out of the room, through the kitchen and into the backyard where she fell to her knees. 

"Please Holy Mother of God, please do not take another child from me again!" 

Her husband, also in tears, led her back into the house.  There was more commotion coming from the little girls bedside.  The little girl who had been pronounced dead, minutes, may be seconds ago was breathing, and ALIVE!

As you can imagine, the mother was now confused, but ecstatic with joy.  She made a promesa to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Mother.  The little girl's step-father killed a cow, and fed the entire village.  Word of the little girl's recovery spread throughout the small island, making headline news in the local paper.  The doctor proudly brought copies of the article to the little girl's parents.  A miracle had happened. 

My mother was the little girl who died.  Prayers are answered; they really are. 

Part of the "promesa" involved my mother wearing white dresses and blue sashes.  Just like in that movie:  The Sound Of Music, where the lead character Maria (Julie Andrews) sang:  "Girls in white dresses, with blue satin sashes....  These are some of my favorite things..."  My mother had to wear this particular outfit for years.  Years, and years later, when my father was in the hospital he lay on the hospital bed unconscious.  Apparently when he "woke up" he turned tomy mother to tell her that he saw her wearing that white dress.  This floored my mother, because she could not believe he remembered what she was wearing the first day they met each other in 1954.  He also said he saw my older brother who had died years past waving to him, and motioning him to "go back".  Of course, hours later, my father forgot what he had said. 

Yes, I come from a very unusual family; but hey..it's never a dull moment.