My Ant Ellie

It’s hard to use words to describe the lovely lady in the picture.  She hasn’t always traveled the easiest roads; and she hasn’t always been lucky in love.  She has had to depend on herself when others let her down and has worked hard her entire life.  But you would never know any of these things if you met her.  You would see a charming, beautiful, energetic lady who never stops laughing; who has a constant smile on her face like the one you see above.  Her heart is made of gold; probably put there by my  Grandmother who spent many of her years panning for gold in the family creek.  She has many of the same characteristics that I remember about my godly grandmother.  She would give a perfect stranger the last thing she owns cause, you see, it wouldn’t occur to her not to.  This is her character.  This is who she is.  

Ant Ellie never had children.  We’ve never talked much about why, but I would guess that while growing up, she never visualized her life without children, much like I never imagined myself not having children of my own.  But it wasn’t her destiny to have children.  It is, however, her destiny to be the cool Ant that all the kids adore; the Ant that will ride the roller coaster with them at the age of 65 when their parents wouldn’t dare get on it; the Ant the kids can talk to about anything and know she will love them unconditionally.  The one the kids, who are now adults, can turn to for support and a shoulder to cry on when their own parents’ health is failing.   Her arms are always open just like her heart and I love her so very much.  There is not a better Ant out there and I thank God every day for letting her be my Ant Ellie.  Everyone should be so fortunate!  And did I mention she loves to shop at Goodwill?  She’s SO cool!

You may think I misspelled “Ant” above, but you’d be wrong.  It’s a family joke.  My beautiful niece, God love her, has always spelled it that way and Ant Ellie always got the biggest laugh out of that, so who were we to change it??! 

God doesn’t give you the people you WANT,

He gives you the people you NEED - 

To help you, to hurt you,

to leave you, to love you

and to make you into the person

you were meant to be.

“Lord, thank you for providing the constant in my life called Ant Ellie. I am certainly not worthy of this treasure.”  

    Liz