Mrs. Thelma Howard's Garden

 

At age 98, my neighbor, Mrs. Thelma Howard, plants a vegetable garden each year.  I wrote a poem about her inspiring everyone on Swaims Road.  When I brought the framed poem to her house, she was hanging laundry on the line.  Each morning when she gets up, Mrs. Thelma takes a shower, puts on her work clothes and keeps busy with gardening and housework.  She said with a laugh, "Age is just a number, and mine is unlisted."  She's a great person and motivates our community to "keep on keeping on."

THELMA HOWARD

Even to your old age I am He, I will sustain you.

               --Isaiah 46:4 (NIV)

She's the Viking

of Swaims Road

shaming the slothful.

One more year,

the warrior tackles

hardening soil with vengeance.

The 98-year-old woman

pushes past comfort

to plant her garden.

At her home church,

she invites me to sit

on her favorite pew.

There's nothing you can catch

from me but old age, she says

with a laugh and her eyes sparkle.

Using her spiritual gifts,

Mrs. Thelma Howard

makes a unique mark on life.

             --Brenda Kay Ledford