One-Way Ticket to a Better Life
By Patrick Best
(Written January 16th, 2013)
Please send thoughts and prayers in the direction of my dear friends Perry Willis (Britt) and Mike Willis tonight. They lost their wonderful mother, Sheila, today after a long illness. She was a generous and loving woman who welcomed me into her home and her heart like I was one of her own. She was one of the people who helped keep me optimistic and hopeful during some fairly dark days in my teenage years, and, for that, I will be forever grateful.
I was fortunate enough to get to visit with her at the hospital for a couple of days last week, and her warmth and sense of humor were just as strong as they were when I first met her 28 or so years ago. One of the many things I will always remember about Sheila is that she always listened to everything her sons and their knucklehead friends had to say. Really listen. That's a rare and valuable thing to a teenager. She didn't always agree with what we had to say (or did, for that matter), but she made us feel like our opinions mattered.
Some of my fondest teenage memories happened at their little house off Hwy. 231 just past Deloney's IGA. I can still see her sitting in their livingroom with her legs pulled underneath her in her comfy chair, her reading glasses on, and a brand new paperback romance novel in her hand. I'm convinced that Fabio was able to pay for at least one chest wax and a Botox treatment per month thanks to Sheila. We would crash through the front door right past her like wild animals, crank up the stereo or turn on the TV, and all she would do is smile, peek over the top of her glasses, exhale slowly and dryly say "Well... helloooo." or "Welcome home, boys.".
Sheila was the person who bought me the one-way Greyhound bus ticket that got me out of Ozark, Alabama and into a better future. If she didn't spend that $87, I would have never met my wife, I wouldn't have my two beautiful children and I probably wouldn't have the strong relationship I have with my father, step-mother and brothers today. The world was definitely a better place with Sheila in it, but I know she is in a better place for her tonight.
Please send thoughts and prayers in the direction of my dear friends Perry Willis (Britt) and Mike Willis tonight. They lost their wonderful mother, Sheila, today after a long illness. She was a generous and loving woman who welcomed me into her home and her heart like I was one of her own. She was one of the people who helped keep me optimistic and hopeful during some fairly dark days in my teenage years, and, for that, I will be forever grateful.
I was fortunate enough to get to visit with her at the hospital for a couple of days last week, and her warmth and sense of humor were just as strong as they were when I first met her 28 or so years ago. One of the many things I will always remember about Sheila is that she always listened to everything her sons and their knucklehead friends had to say. Really listen. That's a rare and valuable thing to a teenager. She didn't always agree with what we had to say (or did, for that matter), but she made us feel like our opinions mattered.
Some of my fondest teenage memories happened at their little house off Hwy. 231 just past Deloney's IGA. I can still see her sitting in their livingroom with her legs pulled underneath her in her comfy chair, her reading glasses on, and a brand new paperback romance novel in her hand. I'm convinced that Fabio was able to pay for at least one chest wax and a Botox treatment per month thanks to Sheila. We would crash through the front door right past her like wild animals, crank up the stereo or turn on the TV, and all she would do is smile, peek over the top of her glasses, exhale slowly and dryly say "Well... helloooo." or "Welcome home, boys.".
Sheila was the person who bought me the one-way Greyhound bus ticket that got me out of Ozark, Alabama and into a better future. If she didn't spend that $87, I would have never met my wife, I wouldn't have my two beautiful children and I probably wouldn't have the strong relationship I have with my father, step-mother and brothers today. The world was definitely a better place with Sheila in it, but I know she is in a better place for her tonight.
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