You Are Loved

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This husband of mine said…

Let’s go to Galena…and so we did…

Stayed at the Irish Cottage Inn…toured the historic town…hit up the antique shop…and walked the quaint little shopping area…

Cute boutiques…wineries…eateries…shops shops and more shops…but as much as that husband of mine likes to browse…it became quite apparent…he was not there to shop…

At least not these shops…heard lots of ehhh…don’t need candy…don’t need popcorn…don’t need cooking things women’s clothes bird things fancy pop wine beer more vintage coffee mugs…

No…what we really came for…drove miles and miles for…was to pay homage…to the Piggly Wiggly up the street…not a tourist attraction…not an historic draw…

Except for him…5 year old him…just lost his mother…moved to a small town in Texas…family befriended by the Piggly Wiggly Matriarch…retired PE teacher by trade…Mrs. Carmichael…

Took him to town events…to the circus…to the Piggly Wiggly where he and his siblings could pick out whatever they wanted…

And then just like that…his family moved…no goodbye…no nothing…and that little heart broke…because that little boy…loved Mrs. Carmichael…

And so each year…we walk down the Piggly Wiggly memory lane…or should we say aisle…and pay tribute to a woman who made a difference…

To a boy who doesn’t remember his mother…but does remember Mrs. Carmichael…and wishes she knew…how special she was…
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And that husband of mine…agrees…