Heart Strong

Dec. 24, 2012

Growing up, there were two families very prominent in my life.  The parents of those two families and my parents are all close friends.  Us kids grew up very close.  The Glenn’s lived across the street until I was in 8^th grade and I think I spent as much time at their house as I did my own.  In fact, they are my god-parents.  The Hartman’s lived just a few miles away and we went to church together forever and we went to school, did all the youth group stuff (including Canadian wilderness canoe trips!), and all the other things that close families do together.  The three men are hunting and fishing buddies for about 45-50 years.  These are people that I have ALWAYS known.

Cora Hartman always struck me as a woman with a gentle heart.  Once, I got locked in their bathroom.  The door lock broke and I couldn’t get out.  I don’t remember how long it took to get me out of there, but with my claustrophobia, it was far too long.  In her soft, southern-Texas accent, she comforted me.  On a sleep-over once, I had one of the worst nightmares of my life.  To this day, because of this dream, my closet door has to be closed when I go to bed.  I laid there in bed crying.  Linda was across the room in her bed and I thought, “How’s she sleeping through my crying?”  That strikes me as funny now.  But, Cora had heard me from her room across the house and came and stroked my hair until I calmed down.

As I have written (ad nauseam), most of my life I’ve had a hard time being excited about Christmas.  But, one of the things I was always excited about at Christmas was getting a plate full of cookies from the Hartman’s.  Yumm!  The iced cut-out sugar cookies were my favorite!  They rank right up there with Mom’s peanut butter kisses.  The plate always arrived a few days before Christmas.  Once her daughters went off to college, the cookies stopped.  Cora would say, “My elves are no longer here to help.”  A vital part of Christmas ended just that quickly.

What most don’t know, though, is that I have carried on this tradition in my adult life.  I used to spend a couple solid days making and decorating cookies and giving them to select people at Christmas time.  Admittedly, over the last few years, the number of recipients has declined to just one family.  The busyness of life and a touch of laziness have intruded on the tradition.  There is one family though who absolutely goes bat crazy (and if you knew them you would wonder, “How do you know the difference?”) for my cookies every year.  It’s so fun to actually give them the cookies because they are so silly.

Even more than fun, it is so heartwarming to have that tradition live on, even when Cora herself does not.  Cora had her victory over cancer last Thursday night, the night I baked the cookies.  It’s a total victory because she never lost her faith or her positive attitude.  So many times, she wrote me and encouraged me in response to my blogs.  Cancer beat her body but not her spirit! 

I looked up the etymology of her name.  Cora is from the Greek meaning “Heart; Maiden” and Hartman is German for “Strong.”  Yup, her name literally means heart strong.  God knew her when she was named.  God knew her when he had her marry and take the Hartman name.  She lived life with grace, dignity, spirit, and faith.  God certainly blessed me to know her.  And, He is blessed to have her with Him in heaven.