"My Ultimate Pearl Discovery" by Susan Pearl

November 10, 2015,  "The Ultimate Pearl Discovery"

Sharing my ultimate pearl discovery:

My name is Susan Pearl.  That is my real first and middle name.  I have been told that my dad had picked that name Susan Pearl.  It was a special name to him. He had a sister named Pearl and he wanted to give the name Susan Pearl to his daughter someday.  He held on to the name and after the births of Max, after the birth of Richard, after the birth of Owen, and after the birth of Francis he still held on to the name Susan Pearl. Dad was not disappointed in having four sons.  He was very proud of his four sons and several years past.

During the passage of time my mother began having some female problems.  She and Dad went to the doctor to see what a doctor's evaluation would show of mother's problems.  The doctor said that mother was close to needing a hysterectomy but a repair surgery was an option.

Mother said that dad told the doctor to, "just patch her up because we don't have our Susan Pearl yet."  The doctor did a repair surgery and told them to go home and have their baby and then get back for the other surgery.

It had been over six years since the birth of their youngest son and within the next year I was born and dad got his Susan Pearl.  He had held on to that name for over twelve years.  He was forty one years old.

My dad died in a car accident when I was one year old.  I have no memory of him.  But I have been told he loved me very much and I was told how he held on to the name Susan Pearl for all those years.

Time went by and I grew up not knowing my dad.  Before dad died he had planted three maple trees, a sugar maple, a silver maple and a red maple.  I can remember as a child sitting under a maple tree and leaning my back up against the bark.  There were many special moments of reflection for me to think of my dad planting the trees and these moments meant a lot to me.  If you would visit my house today I have one room decorated in autumn maple leaves and the people who know me know the reason why.

More time passed and I went into life.  I must say I did miss very much not having or knowing my dad.  My mother was wonderful and she made a happy and safe environment for us to enjoy while growing up.

I married the love of my life.  We had a beautiful family.  Time and life kept moving on.  My pearl discoveries began in my forties.  I remember the exact moment it started.  I was hosting an activity at the rest home when I was kindly given a calendar for the activity by a fellow staff member.  The calendar had famous birthdays for each day of the month, important events that had happened during the month and, also, the birthstone for the month with information and history along with the flower of the month with information.

The month was June.  I was surprised to find the birthstone for June is the pearl.  I read the information out loud for everyone in the room to hear.  As I read I learned and discovered that the pearl begins as an irritation caused by the pain of a grain of sand.  I immediately thought that my dad had named me pearl and it had always been a painful irritation to me not knowing him.  I continued reading that the shell fish (oyster) has an automatic defense mechanism that forms the mother of pearl substance that covers the grain of sand to relieve the irritation and pain.  This mother of pearl substance is what forms the beautiful and valuable pearl over time.  This information was new to me and I had a special moment of a reflection similar to the moments I had known as a child as I would be thinking about my dad while sitting under one of the maple trees he had planted.

I knew I was discovering something that was very wonderful for me to find.  The new perspective brought a new great value and meaning into my life.  I now considered my name Susan Pearl to be a special gift from my dad.

I now had a special understanding of the process of the pearl being made and formed.  I applied the new understanding of this information of the pearl to my life.  I was so impressed that through this discovery I recognized that certain difficult situations can prepare us to see things later in life that bring beauty,  great value and precious meanings that forms character and gives insight and direction.  I knew that pearls take time and that this process of finding more of life's discoveries would, also, take time.

Time moved on.  My forties came and went. I enjoyed writing, telling, sharing these insights with others by playing guitar and singing the songs I had written.  My fifties came and went.  My sixties came and are still going on.  It was in my sixties that I found a new discovery that gave to me another entire new dimension and perspective of seeing and understanding the complete pearl process.  I call this "my ultimate pearl discovery".

This discovery happened unexpectedly.  I just realized it one day as I was thinking about how to live with the things in my life that I cannot change. I thought that the shell fish (oyster) has an automatic defense mechanism to make a mother of pearl substance to manage living through a  difficult and painful setting.  I wished that we could have an automatic defense mechanism, too. Then I thought that--- "we do, we do, WE DO!!!".  With our faith, our hope and above all with our love we can make it through difficult settings.  This forms a pearl of great value over time.  The ultimate pearl discovery is "WE HAVE TO LEARN TO LIVE WITH THE THINGS THAT WE CANNOT CHANGE".  Repeat---  "WE HAVE TO LEARN TO LIVE WITH THE THINGS THAT WE CANNOT CHANGE AND FAITH, HOPE AND ABOVE ALL LOVE WILL SHOW US THE WAY".

I couldn't change the fact that I grew up without a dad but I had to learn to live with it.  My ultimate pearl discovery was taught to me at an early age that, "we have to learn to live with the things that we cannot change and with a strong faith, an unending hope and most of all a great love we can do just that."  And, for some reason, I was shown this lesson in life from being given my name Susan Pearl. A name given to me by my dad.  My dad who I don't have a memory of ever knowing.

From,  Susan Pearl

Hello, it has been over two years since I have posted on my blog, "Pearls Take Time".
I wanted to share this post on my blog today.  It has meant a lot to me to do this.

After the first of the year I hope to have a new look to my blog that will incorporate together several aspects of my creative projects which include drawings, discussion questions the incorporation and application of "old sayings" to "new settings".   It is very interesting and I hope to have it ready after the first of the year.  Until then,  Best Wishes