Mama Knew Best

By Dawn M. Geiger

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).

As a young child, Edie, raised by a single mother struggling with epilepsy, was placed in a girls group home. Sad, confused, scared, and not understanding why her mother left her at the Simpson Home to live with complete strangers, Edie begins her new life not knowing if she will ever see her family again. Through the life of Edie, her story will help you understand that even though our paths in life take unexpected twists and turns, which we may not have control of, God is not shocked or surprised by any of it because He has a plan for each of us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490838915

Dawn M. Geiger

Dawn M. Geiger was born and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia. She is a consultant, life coach, and is passionate about education and humanitarian work. She is a mother to two adult children, a mother-in-law to two more, and Nana to two precious grandchildren. She is an avid bargain shopper, a fun party planner, and a DIY crafter. Dawn loves to travel and enjoys spending time with her family. Dawn's favorite colors are green and earthy tones, and fall and spring are her favorite seasons. Dawn lives in central Virginia, and you can contact her at www.dawnmgeiger.com.

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Copyright © 2014 Dawn M. Geiger.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-3891-5 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/19/2014

Contents

The View

The Move

The Adjustment

What Day Is It?

New Clothes

The Lake House

Surprise Visit

The Traveling Sales Team

The Last Christmas

The Ultimate Loss

Going Home

The Lost Years

Edie Leaves Home

In loving memory of

Doris Spangler and

James and Mary Gunter

Troy, Megan, Nicole,

Erik, Kalib, Kayleigh,

Patrick, Barbara, and Stephanie,

I love you always!

"I am your Creator.

You were in my care even before you were born…"

Isaiah 44:2 (CEV)

The View

Going for car rides was one of my favorite things to do, so when Mama asked if I wanted to go for a ride with her, Grandma, and Grandpap, I jumped up excitedly. Yes ma’am! I squealed, running towards the front door.

Slow down, said Grandma, smiling as she helped me put on my jacket.

I was really excited by the thought of being the special one today, being that it was rare when one of us children got to ride in the car with just the adults.

After zipping up my jacket, Grandma, Grandpap, Mama, and I walked out the door and down the front steps. As I turned to wave goodbye to my brother, Sammy, and cousins, Mandy and Scott, Mandy asked her mother, Where are they going?

They are going for a ride and will be back soon, Sue answered.

I want to go! Sammy cried, running across the porch towards the steps.

Maybe next time Sammy, Sue replied, pulling him close to her side.

After climbing into the back seat of Grandpap’s old white station wagon, I quickly rolled down my window as far as it would go and smiled out into the sunshine while Mama slid in next to me. As Grandma and Grandpap got in up front, I didn’t notice that I was the only one smiling.

Here we go, Grandpap said reluctantly, as we pulled out onto the road.

I wasn’t paying any attention to where we were going, because this special car ride was all that mattered. Holding my head out of the car window, I let the cool breeze blow through my hair. I didn’t notice that Grandma was giving Grandpap directions to our destination or that Mama was quietly looking out her window.

Look at my hair Mama! I giggled with delight.

Yes, I see, she replied quietly. Now don’t hang your head out of the window too far.

Before I knew it we were turning another corner and Grandma said, I think that’s it. I leaned forward so that my head nestled between Grandma and Grandpap’s shoulders. There in front of us was the longest brick building I had ever seen.

Excited, I asked, Are we going shopping, Grandma? while pointing to the building.

No, Edie. We’re going visiting, Grandma replied.

Visiting, I thought. I couldn’t believe that anybody could live in this building or that we would ever visit such a place.

Who lives there? I asked.

A lot of girls live there, including some girls your age, replied Mama, while slowly patting my back.

Wow! There must be a thousand girls living there, I exclaimed, while still looking at the building wide-eyed.

Growing in curiosity, I looked out one car window and then another. There were so many windows on the building that I couldn’t count them all, and none of them had sheets of plastic covering them like we had at our house. It was still cold during the nights and early mornings so Grandpap had not yet taken the plastic off all of our windows. Here, there were some trees and shrubs in front of the building, and the grass was green with no bare spots. Also, there were a few cars parked in front of the building, including a brown station wagon that looked just like my Grandpap’s car.

This is very nice, Mama said.

I think so, too, Grandma replied.

Where are all the girls? I asked.

They are inside, I suppose, Grandma answered.

After Grandpap parked the car, Mama turned to me and said, Come here Edie and let me fix your hair, as she reached out to me, patted, and parted the tangled mess on my head with her hands.

After I slid over towards her, Mama quickly brushed my hair and then gave me the biggest hug I had ever gotten. Now I know I’m special, I thought, while smiling.

We all slowly got out of the car and Mama reached down to grab my hand into hers as I smiled up at her. While walking up the long, gray sidewalk, I noticed that Grandma took Mama’s other hand and squeezed it gently. Mama let out a sigh of relief. Grandpap then touched Mama’s shoulder as they exchanged small, tense smiles, while cutting their eyes towards each other. Once we got to the door, Grandpap opened it and we all walked slowly inside the brick building, stopping in the front foyer.

When I looked up, I could not believe what stood before me. There was a portrait of an enormously huge, very tall man with white hair hanging on the wall facing the front door. I had never seen anything like this before. As I held my head back and looked up into the tall man’s eyes, I noticed that he was staring right back at me. I ran behind Mama’s legs and clutched onto her hand. I kept going from side to side looking at him, and every time I looked up I felt that his eyes were following me. I was terrified and tugged onto my mother’s hand. As she bent down towards me, I whispered loudly, Who is that man, and where are we?

Suddenly a lady appeared from behind a closed door, motioning towards the painting. His name is Mr. Harold Simpson, founder of the Simpson Home. My name is Mrs. Marston and this must be Edie, she said, as she smiled down, reaching her hand out as she looked at me.

Yes, said Mama, and I’m Eva, and these are my parents.

It’s nice to meet you, said Mrs. Marston.

But Mama, I cried, as I continued to hide behind her legs, he keeps looking at me. Mama bent down, took me into her arms, and held me close to her.

Mama, he is scaring me, I want to go home!

She tried to reassure me that it was only a portrait of Mr. Simpson and he could not hurt me, but it was to no avail because I continued to stand next to her with my arms clinging to her neck, hiding my face.

After a few moments of Mama’s attempts to reassure me that Mr. Simpson could not hurt anyone, I slowly pulled away from my mama’s neck and stood close to her while looking around the foyer. There was a long, narrow, dark brown table against the wall next to the front door and a large round gold plate sitting there with lots of mail on it. I thought it was strange, because at our house the mailbox was outside the front door and Grandma used a clothes pin to hold the outgoing mail. Next to the gold plate was a thin opened book that had names and dates written in it. Mama looked down towards the book and began to walk towards it. Mrs. Marston touched Mama’s arm and said softly, You don’t need to sign in today, ma’am. That’s for visitors.

Mama nodded her head slightly and turned away from her and looked down at me with that same half smile she and Grandpap had shared earlier.

Sign in? Why not? We are visitors, I thought.

Around the corner on my left was a tall, round, shiny thing that was full of colors and odd shapes sitting on a small round table. Next to it was a huge clock with a long thing hanging from it moving back and forth. As I stood there watching the long thing move back and forth, the clock began to chime. I ran behind my mother’s legs again screaming, What’s that?

Mrs. Marston explained that the clock was called a Grandfather Clock and the long moving thing was called a pendulum. A what? I asked, and then started to laugh. Grandpap was standing there next to Grandma and he did not look like a clock to me, nor did his arms swing back and forth all the time.

She then explained that the tall thing on the table was a beautiful glass vase that could be used to hold umbrellas or very tall flowers and warned me to never touch it because if I knocked it over, it would surely break.

There were two doors near the front door; one on the left side from which Mrs. Marston walked and one on the right side, which was closed and directly across from the other. There was a long hall on each side of the foyer, and I couldn’t help but wonder where the halls led. They were the longest, widest halls I had ever seen. I looked from one hall to the other and I could not imagine anyone ever having to walk up and down those halls every day. We then followed Mrs. Marston slowly down the hall on our left. On the right-hand side was a huge room that had two sets of open glass doors. Mrs. Marston said that this room was called the dining room.

Dining room? Huh? I wondered. We had a kitchen at home, not a dining room, which also had two doorways. The doorway leading into our hall at home did not have a door. Also the doorway leading into the TV room had a dark brown door that Grandma would close when she had company in the kitchen, and children were playing too loudly in the TV room. I stood in the doorway and looked around the dining room. I noticed that there were two rows of four long light brown tables with matching chairs. I had never seen tables that long before, especially with matching chairs, because at our house the table was round and none of the chairs matched. Two of the chairs didn’t