Lucy's Treasure

'People learn to treasure things in their many walks of life. Some people value and hold things dear to their hearts and cling to them for a lifetime. Whether it is money, jewels, or valuable things that bring back memories from the past, they have that special meaning. As age creeps upon people, they accumulate many special things that have no value to anyone besides their own sentimental perceptions. They are worth the world to the beholder that knows and remembers the events and lives that the special heirloom retains in its possession of being.

There is another great treasure in life that does not involve material things. Life usually has family and friends. An individual enters this world as a single being with the bonds that birth carries with it. If a being is fortunate, life begins by birth to parents that are ready and lovingly devoted to the commitment. That devotion it takes in parental responsibility that a newborn needs in this often-difficult world is critical. To treasure a mother is not mandatory. The sad part is most mothers are taken for granted. The closeness grows with time and is a by-product of experiences between the mother and child. There is always a special bond that grows between the mother and the child that stems from the dependence that each has and derives. It is unique and beyond all measure. Even if a mother is not all she should be or fails to measure up to the world's standard of motherhood, in the eyes of the child, stands a hero that suffered to birth this special offspring into this world.

Another treasure is a father that is admired and loved, even when it is not a deserved response. There are many fathers in this world. Some are great in the world's eyes, yet little in their own children's eyes, because a father can only give so much. Some fathers give all to their home, wife and children and never make a dent in history. It is in those homes that much can be appreciated and admired as future examples. Even those fathers that fail miserably at being anything successful, they find they are precious in those special loving eyes. The ones that look up at them and run forth with open arms just to see them again after a father's long, hard day.

Another unique treasure of life is the other siblings of the same household. Brothers and sisters are often at odds with each other, but in that, relations to the outside world begins as they learn to co-exist with brothers and/or sisters. The bond among sisters and brothers follow them through their entire lives. It is like they are always there somewhere in wait for that fellow sibling to write, call, visit, or just think about in their memories.

Treasures can also be found in the bonds of friendship with those around us. Having a bosom buddy in one's life gives life that special flavor. Having that special partner in life that can be trusted and respected in the simplest way is a treasure among treasures. That friend can be a neighbor, a family member, or one of the children. Those treasured relationships give the individual hope and courage even when the time comes to leave the relationship for greater things. Part of the cherished status of that special treasure, is the establishment of the valued status that others seek also. It is not a give or take situation. It is a shared relationship that meets half way. It is a thing called love.

This story must go on a treasure hunt deep in our past. This goes back to about 1904. The place of importance is but a farming community called Silver Run. Not that it was a community at all. It consisted of a church, a train station, an iron-ore strip-mining operation that had closed down years before, and a group of farms that extended into the foothills of Cheaha Mountain.