The Bag...

I must tell you a sweet, sweet story- 17 years ago or so I sat in a Chinese restaurant in Minnesota, with my Mom and 2 sisters…celebrating my oldest sister’s 40th Birthday. We ate well and sat drinking our “Birthday” tea. As we enjoyed the time…the conversation turned to gifts. What would she LOVE to have? What would be a great “marker” for her 40th Birthday? In a moment of sheer unguarded clarity she spoke…”A Coach purse.” We laughed and oohhhh and ahhhhhed and then…my mother said, “Let’s go get one, right now.”

Now, you have to understand, my mother is a Great Depression Era child, she is a seriously NON-frivolous person. She re-uses foil! Not knocking the foil re-use…I do it too, sometimes. But you have to understand, the last person IN THE WORLD who would buy a $200ish purse would be my Mom! That was simply unheard of!

No joke, we paid the bill at the restaurant and we marched right up to the Couch counter, in Macy’s (I think it was Macy’s, or some department store) and my mother plunked down the money for a brand new Coach purse for my sister’s 40th. Unbelievable.

That was the beginning of a family tradition…we did the same thing 2 years later for my other sister’s 40th. And baby Mandi? She wouldn’t be turning 40 for quite some time, so she got a knock-off at a flea market. :) I must tell you, I’m really not that big of a Coach fan, or a $200 purse fan.

Anyway, this summer I turned 40 and low and behold my Mom, sisters and I found ourselves at the Coach outlet. HMMMM….honestly, we were there because of my niece and I really had no idea we would be looking for me! As my Mom came up to me and said, “Well, which one do you want? “ I was really quite dumbfounded…not to sound ungrateful but I really didn’t WANT a Coach purse!

I looked around…handled a few purses and was getting ready to settle for one when my sister brought me a sleek black Coach briefcase-satchel-like-thing, she said; “Wouldn’t this be great for all your Bible Study stuff?” My Mom looked at me and said to me something like, “That’s the one.”

I don’t think I can put into words what it meant to me to have my mom buy something so extravagant for what I have been called to do. To Teach. We talked about it later…she was so pleased to “invest” in a bag that would carry the Word and be a help to me, as I minister the Word to women.

My Mom turned 80 this year, I’m not sure how much longer I’ll have her in my life, but her extravagant purchase of tradition, for my 40th, meant the world to me. I’ll think of her always as I carry my bag week by week. When you see me in class don’t notice the bag, but remember what the bag contains. What it contains is worth all the investment in the world. Had to tell you my sweet, sweet story…thanks Mom.