I have lost my heart to some wonderful women. I have been helping at a nursing/rehabilitation home for a few hours a week. I love to work with these wonderful, strong willed women. There are four that have softened my heart. I sit and listen to their stories, that is all that some of them have left, and I am filled with deep emotions of love and awe.

Because of privacy issues, I will only use the first initial of their given name. W. is 105 years old! She is bright, articulate and blind. She has lived in so many areas around the globe. Her mother was from India. They lived in several places when she was younger. When she married, her husband needed to live in several different countries, for the work that he did. She was telling me of her favorite three years of her life, three years which sound like they must have been like heaven. I have a very vivid imagination and I painted a beautiful picture in my mind, with her stories. She, her husband and two children lived on a warm, sea island. I could see her in her big, beautiful house, getting ready for an evening filled with friends and food. I could see her sitting on the beach reading books and watching her two children play. I could have talked to her all day!

One of the other women that I work with said that she thought that I looked remarkably well for a mother of four, the least of all, two teenage boys. I have pondered that. I wonder if I would look a lot better if the Lord had blessed me with just two children, only daughters. I couldn't imagine my life without my sons though and I will gladly add a few more lines and a few more wrinkles just for them. I hope that my memories will give me happy days in my future.

Several years ago, when I was turning 34, I had taken the children with me shopping. Ben tended to wander away from me, all the time. I was frantically looking for him, when I heard him talking to the woman at the beauty counter. I heard him specifically say, "So, you think this cream will help my Mom's wrinkles? She has a birthday tomorrow and I want her to look young again." I smiled, but inwardly sighed. I approached him and he showed me the so called, 'miracle cream.' I allowed him to buy it and he applied it to the 'laugh lines' that were developing around my eyes and my mouth. What a cute boy. I hope that I carry these kinds of happy memories with me and that I am happy like these other beautiful women are.

Every time I see these beautiful women, I remember the lines from the Young Women Theme: "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him."