On September 25th at 2 pm my mother in law passed away, at 80 years and 7 months old, and it has taken this long to formulate a reflection about her life.
You know there are a lot of jokes out there about mother-in-laws, which, I never ran across one that applied to my mother in law. I respected her too much for that. She was always nice to me and everyone she came in contact with. I guess in my mind the greatest thing she ever did in her life was to choose to give life to her children. Without that one fundamental choice she made, my life wouldn't have been that good, and I probably would have ended up with a mother in law those jokes would have applied to. So thank you mom for bringing my wife into this world, the best thing that ever happened to me. Leona's life affected many other lives also, she had 1 son and 3 daughters, 13 grandchildren, and 22 great grand children!!! WOW!! All because a farm girl from western Iowa chose life!! What an impact on our society that must have made since Leona made that one fundamental choice. Nobody made Leona do that, she had a value that ran through her life that influenced her to do that.
I think that fundamental value is something we as Americans need to defend, and promote, including making sure our elected representatives support that fundamental choice Leona made, and don't try to undermine it through such societal undermining, such as Roe vs. Wade, and separation of church and state. I believe when you follow a pro life example you lead a happier life and it makes you more considerate to others. I know in my professional life it has made me a better servant to my customer because I now look at the customer as a person rather than a number. I also believe if our country has become more crass, inconsiderate, and more unsafe it is because of a lack of respect for life. I guarantee you our government will be better when we have officials in it that fundamentally respect life, and make a stand for it!!! So thanks mom for choosing life, you made an impact on this world that I am not sure you were even aware of, you did your part if things go bad from here it is my generation's fault.
Tim Grover
The Plain Blunt Guy
