With the holidays only a few weeks away, it's easy for most to get lost in the decorations, the travel and the gifts. This time of year can be difficult for many people. Holiday stress combined with family problems such as strained finances, illness, divorce or the memory of loved ones lost can bury a person in depression, many can't seem to dig out of.
Pam Lyles of Etowah County has something many people seek but never find around the holidays. Though it's not the decorations and travel and gifts that lift her up, it's a celebration of life, the birth of Jesus Christ. Pam has endured more heart breaks than most can imagine. With Angels of peace all around her, she lives and she loves, with a halo around her heart holding all the pieces together. She bears a smile from the soul that could have only been put there by a touch from God.
When Pam was only four, her mother passed away from cancer. She and her Dad went to live with one of her much older brothers and his wife. Not long after her mother died, one of her four older brothers died at the age of 18, Pam was only five. Losing a second family member, could have been traumatic, but her twenty year old sister-in-law, held on close. Barely out of her teens, she took on Pam as if she were her own, giving her most of the care she needed so Pam's Daddy could work. Despite having a biological daughter, Arnice made no difference between the children. Pam was loved. Losing her Dad to an unexpected massive heart attack when she was just a teen, could have shattered the heart pieced together by time, but she had her halo.
When Pam grew up and had children of her own, she felt pressured to pack a lifetime into each day that passed. She had a fear that she too would leave her children at an early age like her mom. She escaped her fear of cancer and soon, her two beautiful daughters were grown. The excitement of the family rose when Melissa, one of Pam's daughters, had a daughter of her own. Kaitlin came into this world, received with nothing but love, but no one knew what the family would soon have to face. The week her child turned one, Melissa was diagnosed with cancer. Not long after, she was called Home, leaving her bouncing baby girl behind with her mom, Pam.
Pam soon found herself in her sister-in-law's role, being mother to someone else's child, her baby's baby. Kaitlin was but two years old when she lost her mom. There is a grave to decorate, pictures to see, and memories shared by family to warm Kaitlin's heart. All these years, Pam's been building a halo, to place around the heart of her granddaughter. This halo is where she'll find strength and where she'll find home. Having a happy holiday season may not be easy for everyone, but if you have a halo around the heart, the true meaning comes from within.
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