Footprints In The Snow
A Mother’s Legacy

Rainee Nelson was born into a very affluent family that loved her very much. As a young girl, her stay at home mother taught her about serving others. Her mother would prepare meals, wash laundry, iron all the families clothes, pay the bills, and kept their home looking elegant.

Almost every evening Mrs. Nelson would go for a walk after dinner. In the winter, when fresh snow was on the ground, Rainee could see her mother’s footprints in the snow long after she was out of sight.

Starting school was a treat. Her mother was her very special taxi to and from school. After school, her mother would have a very special fruit snack prepared for her. As she got older she noticed everyone didn’t have a mother that stayed at home.

Rainee was made to feel like a princess. Her father would take her on a special date every Sunday afternoon. Mr. Nelson was a very busy man, as the President and Founder of his own company, and the president of the Board of Trustee for several Non-Profit Organizations. Mr. Nelson was a mentor and a sponsor of a Mentor Group.

Mrs. Nelson volunteered her R.N. skills to a unique weekend Children’s Medical Clinic Christmas time was a time to work in the soup kitchen and to give the gifts to strangers. Rainee went to college to become a Registered Nurse. In her sophomore year, her mother died. Her father helped her through this time of lost. He made himself completely available to her. He was committed to her becoming an R.N. He sold the company and resigned from the Board of Trustee he served on.

Grief became surmountable for Mr. Nelson. He died in Rainee’s senior year.

Rainee met Brad Smith and they fell in love. Brad’s family loved her and welcomed her into the family. They later married after college. Brad’s family made a point to have a family get together every other weekend. One particular weekend, the men went off on a fishing trip and the ladies went on a shopping spree. There was a word that came saying there had been a boating accident. Mrs. Smith got the word that she had lost her husband and two sons. Rainee had lost her husband of two years.

Eighteen months had gone by and Terri the widow of Tim, decided to leave her mother-in-law and return to her family. Rainee clinged to Mrs. Smith and would not leave her side. She served her mother-in-law well. She worked and used her inheritance to take care of Mrs. Smith.

Bill Bowman, a long lost friend of the Smith Family, came home from the far west. Mrs. Smith introduced Rainee to him when she came to visit her. Rainee and Bill became the best of friends. Bill noticed how Rainee served Mrs. Smith. He began to secretly leave money for Rainee to find. Bill had the people of town to be especially kind to Rainee. The people of town did not mind doing so because Rainee was such a sweet person. The Bowman Family was very prominent in the town. Bill became her protector and later asked her to marry him. The wedding was like the taste of the icing on a cake, the scent of a fresh rain, and the peacefulness of a hummingbird. Within a year, they had a baby boy named Rocky.

Mrs. Smith felt redeemed. She began caring for the baby with exceeding joy. When Rocky was a little boy, he would watch his mother take her evening walk from the living room window. When it snowed, he could see his mother’s footprints in the snow, long after she was out of sight.

They all lived a full life, of joy, comfort and peace.