My Mother Loved Us So Well

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“Hi, Mom, anybody home?”

I knocked on the door and walked in at the same time.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming over!” she’d call back, slapping her face for added drama.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t because I didn’t want you to feel like you had to make any food for me.”

“But it’s not right not to have anything for you!” she’d always counter back at me. “HarRAM,” she’d say in Arabic, a phrase she used, which loosely translated means “you poor thing!”

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And on we’d continue. This particular conversation would be repeated many more times between us while she was alive.

She was the type who always gave of her time and talents, and boy, was cooking one of them.

Cabbage rolls, stuffed grapevine leaves, pan-fried fish—it was all so filling, so comforting. She made the best grilled eggplant that I tried to duplicate once but failed miserably.

I didn’t want her to fuss, really . . . because I knew she would, and that wasn’t fair to her.

What I didn’t realize was she took joy in serving—that she wasn’t just being polite, she really felt distressed that a virtual spread wasn’t on the table to meet me at my surprise appearances.

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Even in her last years, when she couldn’t stand for long periods of time, I would see her seated at the stove, doing the best she could.

When we gave back just a little to her, you would have thought we gave her the moon by the way she would go on and on in gratitude.

Stranger, friend, or family—give her an ounce of kindness, and she’d repay you with an extra amount.

She loved her family, and she loved the Lord. She gave her life to both, fully and without holding back.

RELATED: I Am My Mother’s Living Heirloom

Now, exactly two years to the day she left us, I can see her smiling at peace, living in the mansion God prepared for her, seated at the table, serving, laughing, feasting in Heaven.

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Margaret Armanious

Hello, My name is Margaret, but my friends call me Margo. I’m just an ordinary girl in Houston. By day, I live in a cubicle farm cultivated by Corporate America. By night, I can be found either yelling back at the TV or tending to a sweet, black cat that loves to be walked on a leash. I love to read, write, exercise, and laugh. Being from Texas, I have been known to two-step till the band goes home. Most of all, I am a Christian. I believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, and I gratefully cling to His salvation. I consider myself an imperfect student of His word.

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She was the type who always gave of her time and talents, and boy, was cooking one of them.

RELATED: My Mother’s Love Follows Me Still

When we gave back just a little to her, you would have thought we gave her the moon by the way she would go on and on in gratitude.

RELATED: I Am My Mother’s Living Heirloom

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5 Ways to Connect with Your Kids

My Mother Loved Us So Well

She was the type who always gave of her time and talents, and boy, was cooking one of them.

When we gave back just a little to her, you would have thought we gave her the moon by the way she would go on and on in gratitude.

If you liked this, you'll love our new book, SO GOD MADE A MOTHER available now!

Her View Shop

As Long as It Beats, a Grieving Heart Lives with the Pain of Loss

6 Things You Can Do Now to Help Kids Remember Their Grandparents

I’m Not Ready for Life Without My Mom

Since She Left

I Carried You for Just 17 Weeks but I’ll Hold You in My Heart Forever

To the Woman Longing to Become a Mother

I Was There to Walk My Mother to Heaven

To the Loss Mom Whose Tears Keep Her Company Tonight

Cowgirls Don’t Cry Unless the Horse They Loved Is Gone

Supporting the Grievers in the Aftermath of Suicide

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