
Dodie in the Navy
Tomorrow is Dodie’s 90th birthday. Pretty amazing, right? I first met my mother-in-law back in 1974; my wife-to-be still lived at home with her parents and I must say, I spent a lot of time over there. As I moved out from under my parents’ wings and into life on my own, I grew even more “dependent” on Dodie and her care. From the very beginning, it was obvious to me that Dodie was a Godly mom; she not only managed her home, but she worked full time and helped raise me. At an early point, even before I had obtained my driver’s license, she allowed me to drive her car, with Papa and Donna too, all the way to West Texas and back which gave me a lot of real-life experience driving.
There was a period where Donna and I, along with our growing family, would visit Dodie and Papa every few weekends as we moved to Austin. And of course, whenever one of our children was born, Dodie would come and spend the second week or two with us, helping Donna after I went back to work. She was wonderful like that, allowing us to have our time first, then jumping in to help as we needed it most. Then, after our first 20 years in the Austin area, Dodie and Papa came to live on our property and for the past 10 years we’ve been blessed to see them almost daily again.
So, I’ve seen her living life on a regular basis now off and on for 37 years (if I’m doing that math right). She has been and continues to be a fountain of blessing to everyone she comes in contact with.
Some other things I think of and love about Dodie:
- Her faith in Jesus Christ has always been vitally important to her. She has always read her Bible and taught others what she found. It made a life-long impression on me, and on Donna of course, as a model for living well-grounded in Christ.
- When Donna and I were “spending a lot of time together” she made a place for us to spend it in her living room or in her TV room. We would watch something with Papa and Dodie right there in the same room (not so much done these days it seems…). I remember a lot of Matlock and Perry Mason.
- Pretty early on, she enlisted me to help Donna paint her room (which she shared with some of her sisters). It was pretty much vivid yellow, and a big room to boot. A lot of paint, and surely some extra work to make yellow cover well.
- Pot roast! Oh yeah! On Sundays it seemed like she always had the most amazing pot roast for the family to share.
- Banana bread ministry: I don’t quite recall if she was doing this before they moved to Leander with us, but somewhere in there she started baking what seems like a bottomless oven-full of banana bread loaves. Whenever anyone goes over to see them, they walk away with a totally yummy loaf. That includes the A/C guy, or the bug guy, or whoever. And she takes a basketful to friends regularly. If you come to our house you’re sure to see several loaves around as well.
- She still drives (gasp) to and from church, the grocery store, doctor’s offices, the post office, and the bank. Yes, they are reasonably close to home. Well, they’re close anyway.
- She served in the Navy in WWII (in the WAVES). Who knew women even did that in those days?
I’m absolutely certain about this; she made it to her 90th in part by walking down to get the mail, every day, at the end of our long joint driveway to and from the street. The house she and Papa live in is way back on our 2 acres, so it’s quite a walk, especially in the Texas Summer heat of 2011. Of course, she has been known to drive down the driveway and back on occasion if it’s too hot
It’s interesting to see in my own heart how much I value family and connections to the heritage I have now; this was certainly not there when I was younger but as I look back it has grown in me. I am grateful for what I have been given in my own life, including the gift of Dodie. God has blessed me beyond understanding with a mother-in-law that loves Him and loves me. Pretty cool!