Date: 7/8/2008
Author: Devin Pickard
Title: "Laying that paint brush down"
If you ever wanted a lesson in how not to paint something, just come watch my futile attempt at it some time. I have recently taken up the task of trying to paint our kitchen....and I do mean trying....Vincent Van Gogh or Bob Villa I ain't. If you happened to show up during one of my feeble attempts at trying to be a painter, you would quickly notice that I end up wearing far more of the colorful liquid than the walls do. But of course, Larry Prince loves paint slingers like me because we end up having to buy twice the amount of paint as someone who knows what they are actually doing. This much I know....I can guarantee you that no painters in our area find their knees shaking for fear of me ever taking their place.
The Fairfield family recently lost a painter who could never be replaced....Mrs. Shirley Bass. Shirley was the tag team partner of our buddy and her husband, Charlie. It seems like just yesterday, though it was February 2007, that good ole' Bro. Charlie was laid to rest under that beautiful tree in the Loveless cemetery in front of the Salem Church of Christ down on Swan Creek. Anytime you saw him, you could always count on Charlie having a big smile on his face, giving you a soft handshake, and offering you a piece of candy. I suppose one of the reasons why Charlie was always grinning was because he knew he had one of the sweetest wives around. The Bass couple apparently mastered the unique relationship of marriage and work. Those of us who have tried such an arrangement admire anyone who is able to successfully pull it off. It certainly takes two special people to be able to mesh secular vocation with the work of marriage....goodness knows marriage is enough work in itself.
After the passing of Charlie, Shirley's health began to spiral downward quickly. Poor health soon turned into a cancer diagnosis which brought about the standard weekly sufferings of chemo and radiation. As I would visit with Shirley from time to time, it became very evident to me what Charlie had passed on to her at his death. No....it was not a great painting empire or massive riches. Neither was it a mansion on a hilltop or a vacation home in the tropics. Charlie left his precious wife something that would neither rust nor be ruined by pain or disappointment in life....his smile. Regardless of what seemed to be going on in her life....whether it was losing her hair because of the treatments or dealing with the costly expense of the daily journey to the doctor's office....Shirley faced each dilemma with a big smile on her face and an optimistic attitude. When asked how she was feeling, she would always reply, “Oh, I think I'm doing a little better today”. Now, I am not sure if she was always being completely honest with that answer, but this one thing I know....I always felt better after leaving her presence....and I think that's the way she intended for it to be. Whether it was during the illness of her mate or her own, Shirley wanted to be sure people left her home feeling that everything was going to be O.K. ....one way or another.
The last few days of her life, Shirley was blessed to have her family by her bed side. Even as her life drew to a close in what seemed to be utter unconsciousness, Shirley left her two children, Sheron and Jimmy, with the hope that things would be fine. To my knowledge, the last two times she opened her eyes was to tell her babies good-bye....at least for now. A kiss on the forehead by Jimmy and an encouragement by Sheron to her momma that “it was O.K to go on home and be with daddy”, is what prompted Shirley to view the world for the last time. She whispered to Sheron just minutes before she passed that “everything would be alright”. I am satisfied that Shirley knew she was about to be reunited with her beloved Charlie and get to do a lot of catching up. I am sure they will have plenty of time....I doubt very seriously those heavenly mansions have to be painted.
Go the extra mile - Devin