TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
GOOD EVENING TXK COLUMN BY BAILEY GRAVITT
A couple of months ago, I was standing in my mom’s bathroom talking to her while she was fixing her hair in the mirror, and she was just LAUGHING! I’m not talking about giggling—little chuckles here and there—I am saying uncontrollably laughing out loud while telling me about a little joke her boyfriend John made on their date the night before. She was laughing so hard that I was trying to hold back laughter myself even though I could not understand a single word she was saying because that’s how hard she was laughing. I did not say anything; I just stood watching her grin from ear to ear, BEAMING with joy. It was truly contagious. This was one of those moments that life is all about—uncontrollable laughter, the honeymoon phase of a new relationship, and uncontainable joy found in the first chapter of a new love. I gravitate towards those emotions that make up the human experience. It’s so fascinating to me. We all hope to experience it, with my mom being no different. But there’s another side of the coin when it comes to that same human experience. My mom has been hurt, manipulated, lied to, scarred, physically, mentally, and emotionally abused by men for years of her life, before and after I was born. I’ve watched and prayed and hoped she could find someone who would see in her what those other men were too blind to see. If anyone in this whole wide world truly deserves THIS man, it’s my mom. If there even is such a thing as happy endings, where can I put in a request that my mom receive one? My mom and John have only been dating for a handful of months. Sometimes new relationships fizzle out. Even though that’s a possibility, that’s not the point. The point is that I have a mom who was brave enough to allow herself to try love again despite every past mistake and heartbreak telling her she should run the other way. It’s about the example she is setting for my brothers and me. It’s about the message—don’t allow fear to hold you back from love. We know the Bible tells us that perfect love drives out ALL fear. Human love will never compare to the connection we share with our Creator, but I would personally like to believe this love we experience here on
48
SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs