By Les Ferguson Jr.
Columnist

In the deep South, we often hear the saying: bless her heart!

Sometimes it conveys a bit of incredulity or derision. “Did you see what she was wearing? Bless her heart.”

And at other times, it conveys sincere heartfelt sympathy, compassion, and understanding. “She is having an incredibly unfair and hard time. Bless her heart.”

Today, I am invoking the saying, “Bless her heart,” and I mean nothing but love, compassion, and understanding. At least as much as can come from a non-mom perspective.

A couple of Tuesdays ago, we embarked on a road trip to Denver, and other points of interest. Two days of driving out and two hard days of driving back.

In between those days, we stayed with cousins who live outside of Denver in their mountain home. It was a delightful time of good food, good fellowship, good tour guides, and even a few not-so-good-for-me games of dominoes. In case you are wondering, I lost badly.

Their house sits at an elevation of 7,621 feet. Over the course of my life, I’ve spent considerable time in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee and have always considered their beauty to be exquisite. But the Rockies are on another higher – literally and figuratively – level of grandeur.

So, while there, we visited with family and toured as many sights as we could. Did you know Mount Evans is the highest peak in the Rockies with an elevation of 14,265 feet? Can you say altitude sickness?

At any rate, visiting and touring was not the main reason for our westward journey.

One of our boys graduated from Ole Miss back in May. We traveled all that way pulling a U-Haul trailer to help situate him in preparation for his new engineering career in the Mile High City. By the time you read this, he will have been on the job for two whole days. Fun times in the big city.

While leaving him there was emotional to me, my emotions paled in comparison to those of the momma who was leaving her youngest-born son to live on his own some 1,100 miles away from home.

So yes, bless her heart. The return trip was highly emotional for her. She was experiencing in living color all the years of providing for and raising this fine young man come to fruition.

And it was hard. But at the same time, it was beautiful and wondrous to behold. Pain and pleasure, all wrapped up in one amazing package.

So, fly high son. Live your life. Give credit and glory to God for all you have and will accomplish. But never forget the one who brought you into this world and joyfully sacrificed herself to see you become the man you are.

Yes, bless a momma’s heart.

“Let your father and mother have joy, and let her who gave birth to you rejoice.”

(Proverbs 23:25 CSB17)

Write to Les Ferguson Jr., at lfergusonjr@gmail.com.