By Jan Penton-Miller
Columnist
Everywhere I look I see bunnies. Bunny pillows, bunny figurines, and I even have my
very first ceramic bunny sitting on my kitchen table.
I love to decorate for the different seasons and holidays, and one of the reasons that I do
it is because I’m super sentimental and special ones make me think of where I was and
what I was doing when I acquired the item.
One of my favorites is a little stuffed bunny with a blue apron. Every year near Easter I
find a special place to tuck this little girl. She is getting older, and probably a little bit
ratty, but when I look at her I see the love in my daughter’s eyes when she gifted her to
me.
Melinda and I had a challenging time of it during her teenage years. If I said something
was black she would retort that it was white. This was so very different from the darling
little girl with an easygoing and agreeable personality that used to live in her room. Many
times I wondered where the little girl in the frilly dresses that jingled when she walked
had gone.
I realize now that pushing away is a normal part of growing up and finding, which
boundaries hold fast, but at the time our relationship was tumultuous to say the least. I
wondered if I had failed as a parent, and it took quite a while for things to level out.
At one point in her young adulthood we were not seeing eye to eye. Melinda had moved
out of the house, and she was doing her thing. I realized that she had to make her own
decisions whether I agreed with them or not, but I was missing that sweet little girl that
once hung on my every word. I sat in my chair sadly thinking about all those beautiful
little Easter dresses and the egg hunts that she once loved.
I was lost in thought when I heard a car come up the drive. When I peeked out the
window it was Melinda coming up the walkway carrying something in her hand. She
came inside and said, “I was thinking of you, Mama. I knew that you liked bunnies, and I
bought this one for you.”
Our relationship didn’t magically mend that day, but it was a start. When I see that rabbit
in the faded blue bonnet peeking out from the ivy atop my bookshelf I feel so much joy
that we never gave up on each other. Melinda is truly one of my very best friends, and to
say that I’m proud of the woman she has become would be a vast understatement.
So many ideals and relationships in life are worth fighting for. The Bible says that we
never fight against people, but against powers and principalities. I believe that, and have
learned that the only place to get the job done is on my knees.