I waited too long...
I was touched, as a young woman, by the writings of Marjorie Holmes, but I never wrote to her or acknowledged her. Oh, I told friends about her books, and I quoted her when I spoke, but she never knew it.
I felt that, well she’s famous, and everybody else is writing to her. She is probably covered up in fan mail, mine would just get lost in the stack. Besides, who knows if she’d get the letter? I’d have to send it to the publisher, and well, you know…
I got married, and read her work. I had children, and read her work. I got busy with life, and forgot about her. Oh, I’d mention her once in a while in my Sunday School class. Her work reminded me of the Psalms. As David wrote of “the good, the bad, and the ugly” so did she. David’s works were filled with one man’s praises to God, and so were hers one woman’s praises to God in the midst of a daily life.
But, I had other things to read. Between my studies, my business, and caring for parents and children, I had no time to read, “just because” anymore; it had to have a “purpose.”
Then came the days of the internet, and e-mail, and contacting someone came “at the click of a mouse.” But still, I didn’t bother looking for her. It would have been easy, Google knows everyone ya know! But I was “busy.”
Today, I read something that reminded me of her. I climbed up and looked on the top of the bookshelf, and there, with all the other small paperback “devotional-type” books, were hers. I blew the dust off (I never said I was much of a housekeeper) and got them down.
I decided to write to her. I’d “Google” her and let her know what she’d meant to me all these years. When I did a search I found, “Marjorie Holmes: Inspirational writer 1910-2002.” And I was too late.
Don’t be “too late.” Tell your friends, your family, and your colleagues how much they mean to you. Search out people from your past that had an influence on you and tell them what they meant to you. (I am in the field I’m in today because of one year with one high school art teacher over 30 years ago. And yes, I’ve told her.)
And don’t think just because someone is “famous” that they already know their impact on your life, or that they won’t care. Sometimes “famous” is just a moniker that is put upon a person in the limelight. It does not mean that they “have it all together” by any means.
If you read her work and see some of her writings in mine - forgive me. They are not purposely plagiarized. They were simply ingrained on a young woman’s heart in her formative years. They are the feelings that every woman has felt, cries that every woman has made, and hopes that every woman has clutched deep within her breast. If you haven’t read any of her work, pick up a Marjorie Holmes book. You’ll be glad you did.
Betty
I felt that, well she’s famous, and everybody else is writing to her. She is probably covered up in fan mail, mine would just get lost in the stack. Besides, who knows if she’d get the letter? I’d have to send it to the publisher, and well, you know…
I got married, and read her work. I had children, and read her work. I got busy with life, and forgot about her. Oh, I’d mention her once in a while in my Sunday School class. Her work reminded me of the Psalms. As David wrote of “the good, the bad, and the ugly” so did she. David’s works were filled with one man’s praises to God, and so were hers one woman’s praises to God in the midst of a daily life.
But, I had other things to read. Between my studies, my business, and caring for parents and children, I had no time to read, “just because” anymore; it had to have a “purpose.”
Then came the days of the internet, and e-mail, and contacting someone came “at the click of a mouse.” But still, I didn’t bother looking for her. It would have been easy, Google knows everyone ya know! But I was “busy.”
Today, I read something that reminded me of her. I climbed up and looked on the top of the bookshelf, and there, with all the other small paperback “devotional-type” books, were hers. I blew the dust off (I never said I was much of a housekeeper) and got them down.
I decided to write to her. I’d “Google” her and let her know what she’d meant to me all these years. When I did a search I found, “Marjorie Holmes: Inspirational writer 1910-2002.” And I was too late.
Don’t be “too late.” Tell your friends, your family, and your colleagues how much they mean to you. Search out people from your past that had an influence on you and tell them what they meant to you. (I am in the field I’m in today because of one year with one high school art teacher over 30 years ago. And yes, I’ve told her.)
And don’t think just because someone is “famous” that they already know their impact on your life, or that they won’t care. Sometimes “famous” is just a moniker that is put upon a person in the limelight. It does not mean that they “have it all together” by any means.
If you read her work and see some of her writings in mine - forgive me. They are not purposely plagiarized. They were simply ingrained on a young woman’s heart in her formative years. They are the feelings that every woman has felt, cries that every woman has made, and hopes that every woman has clutched deep within her breast. If you haven’t read any of her work, pick up a Marjorie Holmes book. You’ll be glad you did.
Betty
posted by Betty Newman at 8:08 AM
1 Comments:
I just finished reading Marjorie Holmes book "You and I and Yesterday" which I have had over ten years. I guess,as my children are older and my career is more settled, I have been able to read novels, especially, more. Being, originally, from Iowa, I took an interest in Ms. Holmes and have been searching the internet from the early evening trying to find some information regarding Ms.Holmes. I was so happy to find your "blog", in fact this is the first time I have answered one or actually seen one.
Mahalo,
Susan Sweeney
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