My Mother has the gift of enouragement, When I was a girl, she belonged to a TOPS group - Take Off Pounds Sensibly, The neighborhood ladies met every Tuesday morning at the community center, weighed in, swapped low-cal recipes, encouraged each other to hanf in there,and then went out to lunch together. It was the soical event of the week! Well, my Mom decided these ladies needed to have their lives spiced up a little bit, Just for fun, She started sending annonymous cards. she'd find funny cards, recycle used cards or make a silly card, then send it off in the mail signed, the TOPS Phnatom. It didn't take long for the buzz to get started. Nobody could figure out who the Phantom was- even my Mom "recived" cards to show everyone. After months of fun, Mom decided to end the ruse. so for Halloween, she decided to arrive at the Tuesday Morning meeting dressed as the Phantom. She donned tights and a black leotard, and made herself a cape with TP swen onto it. She put white paint all over her face, outlined her eyes with black, and put a black ski cap over her hair,

I still have a picture of her! The local ladies were dumbfounded when my Mom walked into the meeting, and nobody recognized her until she started laughing! Sometimes you have to be willing to give it your all in order to encourage those around you.

Good one, Mom!



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