Bless your Heart!

Hanging on the side of a shelf in my dining room is a heart.  It is nothing fancy nor expensive but it has been there some twenty years.  It hangs about three feet up from the floor which is a rather unusual place to hang a knickknack but you have to understand that I did not place it.  This little heart plaque dangles by a faded pink ribbon from an upholstery tack that is sort of smashed into the board.  When Darling Daughter, Elizabeth, was around five years old, she was given this heart by her grandmother and to her, as a little girl, it symbolized love.  It was this sweet little girl that hung the heart in the dining room because she wanted to share the love that came with the gift from her grandmother.  So...there it hangs. I do not wish to move it. The love is still being shared!

Today when I saw the heart, I smiled.  "Bless her little heart!", I thought to myself.  Darling Daughter is now an adult, married and with her own place but that love was still being shared in our dining room.  Bless her heart!  Oh, my word!  I am turning into Great-aunt Thelma!  That little lady was a true Southern Belle and would bless everybody's heart!  When times were good....Bless their hearts!  When times were bad..Bless their hearts! When someone died...Bless his heart!  When a child behaved nicely...Bless her heart!  When the puppy piddled on the floor...Bless its heart!  It did not matter the occasion or incident..the phrase fit.  It is one of those things that you can say when you are at a loss for words and everyone immediately knows that you care.  There are some that have twisted the saying around to mean a derogatory term now but true Southerners know that it is a catchall phrase that means everything from "you are so sweet!"  to "I'm so sorry!".  The phrase is often cooed while plying a family with a casserole or Mama's special pound cake when someone has died or when a sweet baby has been born.  A Southern Belle will almost whisper "Bless your heart" while softly shaking her head (positively or negatively as the situation requires) as she hands over a delectable dish.  Just a Southern Way....  But back to my turning into Great-aunt Thelma..it is not just her.  I seem to be amassing the traits of a great many of my ancestors..women and men alike.  The blessings of Great-aunt Thelma, the sharing of baked goods of Aunt Marie, the writing and seclusive tendencies of Uncle Hilary, the imagination of Aunt Helen, the love of nature of Pop and so many more.  It seems that perhaps I am a combination of a lot of folks.  I know these are all just things that were instilled in me from years ago and I like to think of them as being good qualities..as being Blessings.   Bless my heart!  Share the love...