Randy Suits

Tammy and ‘Puddin’ a Madame Alexander Doll

Eve, my sweetie,

I remember how Tammy loved dolls as a little girl. She loved to play house. She would emulate a mommy (after your example) in her make believe relationship with each doll almost as if they were real people. She liked to dress them and pretend she was a mommy and her dolls were her children. She fed them, burped them, changed their dresses, taught them, took them for walks in a toy stroller, brought them along for family drives and often set her at table beside her as we ate meals. Her favorite doll was ‘Puddin’ a Madame Alexander doll. She slept with ‘Puddin’ each night holding her as I prayed with her and her brother at bed time. She wanted a family even as a small child through her teens. Once, on a Saturday, when you were working, I had to go the the Union National Bank. I was watching her and her brother Jeff when you called and reminded me to not forget to go to the bank. It was extremely cold that day and in a rush to arrive before the bank closed, I under dressed both kids (Tammy was wearing a dress because she liked dresses) and I rushed out the door with them. Upon arriving at the bank, we started across the street when Tammy needed help with ‘Puddin’ (she had her wrapped warmly in a blanket – dressed  for the cold weather). I clutched Tammys’ hand and clasped ‘Puddin’ in the middle of her back and we ran across the street in the bitter cold with her older brother Jeff at my right side and rushed into the bank. An older woman saw that ‘Puddin’ was bent backwards and she let out an ‘Oh my Gosh’ before she realized that ‘Puddin’ was a doll. ‘Puddin’ did look that real. Even as a young child she knew how to be a good mommy. (When you found out that I had underdressed the kids, you did express your great displeasure with me, I still remember that as well.) You were a good mommy too. Tammy was a good student and she could have excelled at anything she chose to do but when she married, she wanted to be a homemaker and mommy more than anything else. Just as she would have excelled at anything she decided to do, she especially excelled at being a wife and mother (and a daughter as well). She was proud to be a homemaker and she taught her children (our grandchildren) to love the Lord and instructed them in His Holy Ways. Because she eschewed many of the teachings of the worldly school system, she home schooled all 6 of her children. They all grew up to be well respected upstanding citizens that we could be pleased with. When your man considers his failures and sees how all our children grew into good adults I am humbled at the work that the Lord God and you did with my help. Together we did it, the Lord God Most High, you and me. I love the Lord and you for that. Rearing children to adulthood is tough work but the rewards are beyond description. Through our children we have been blessed with riches untold, blessings beyond description. We are Gods’ children, let us strive to please him as much as God through our children pleases us.

Grateful for your love and devotion to our Lord, our children, me and us, Kochany