Shirley Sunday

Last Sunday(May 15th) was Shirley Harris Crockett Award Sunday, and it proved to be a truly wonderful day honoring her memory and legacy. We made an award to Katharine Breunig and posthumously to Tony and Margaret Dale Barrand. That in itself made it a special day. But we also sang Shirley of Guilford, a song which Tony composed in honor of Shirley back in March, 1991. We have sung it many times since, and almost always with some new verses to adapt it to a new time. This was the first time we have sung it since we no longer had Tony to sing the verses. And in addition to that, I gave the children's story, and decided to meld two favorite things: Shirley's old Raggedy Ann doll, which was a very frequent "prop" in her children's stories, and the story of The Mended Cup, which is one of her best and actually was the title of the first published collection of ber stories back in 2002. I got the inspiration to merge Raggedy with the Mended Cup when I realized that because Raggedy was Shirley's doll when she was a little girl, and the Mended Cup story is based upon a real-life incident in Shirley's life when she was about 6 years old, and in the story Shirley goes to her bedroom and sobs on her bed, in all liklihood, Raggedy was there in her room at the time. So here is the new story: **********Raggedy Ann and the Mended Cup*********** May 15, 2022 Larry: Hi Raggedy Ann! We haven't seen you here in church for a long time! RA: It has been a long time! Larry: I'm wondering, how old are you now? RA: I'm getting close to being 90 years old! If Shirley were alive, she would turn 90 in September, and I was her doll when she was a little girl. Larry: Wow! That's amazing. Do you remember when Shirley would tell stories to the children with you? RA: Oh yes, but there is one story that is my favorite because I was there when it happened. Larry: You mean when Shirley told the story? RA: No, no. - the story was about when she was a little girl, and I was there. Larry: O My goodness - what is the story? RA: "The Mended Cup." She tells about going to her room and crying, and I was right there on her bed when she cried. Larry: Isn't that an amazing coincidence - I just happen to have that cup with me this morning! Would you like me to tell the story? RA: Oh Yes, Please! Only this time, mention me! Larry: OK! It's a deal! Once upon a time there was a girl named Shirley, about six years old. She was a very sunny and happy girl and she loved to jump. She loved to jump over the cracks in the sidewalk (she lived in the city); she loved to jump rope; she had a pair of stilts and she even liked to jump with them! One rainy day she could not jump outside, so she went upstairs and started to jump on her parents’ big bed. It was lovely jumping there until her mother heard her and came upstairs and scolded her and told her not to do that again. Her mother said, “If you have to jump, go down in the basement where you can’t hurt anything.” So Shirley got her jumping rope and went into the basement. But what her mother had forgotten was that in the basement there was a box of old dishes, which was waiting to be unpacked, that had come from Shirley’s great-grandmother’s house. Right on top of that box was the only remaining cup of her great-grandmother’s wedding china, a cup that had come all the way from China to New Hampshire. And sure enough, as Shirley was jumping rope, she tripped and fell right on top of the box of old dishes and smashed that cup! When Shirley saw what had happened, she began to cry, and her mother heard her and came running, and when she saw what had happened, she began to cry too. “Oh Shirley,” she cried, “How could you? How could you? How could you do this to me?” Shirley felt as miserable as anyone could feel and she ran upstairs to her room and slammed the door and fell sobbing on her bed - and Raggedy Ann was right there on her bed and she tried to comfort Shirley! (RA: Thank you!). Pretty soon, Shirley’s mother remembered that she had told Shirley to jump in the basement, and that she had forgotten all about the dishes being there, and that it wasn’t really Shirley’s fault that the cup was broken, that it was an accident. So she went upstairs to Shirley’s room and said she was sorry she had gotten so angry and said what she did, and Shirley said she was sorry she had broken the cup, and they hugged and held each other until they both felt better. Then they went and got all the broken pieces of the cup and glued them back together as best they could. And when it was all glued together, they saw that it would never be the same again, but that the relationship between a mother and daughter was a lot more important than a cup.
This cup has sat on the shelf all these years, a symbol of all the broken things in life that can be mended by love. And here it is: it obviously has been mended, but it also just may be that having been broken and then mended, has given this cup a greater beauty than it had before.
RA: I love that story. And it is so true! Larry: Raggedy, I think you have lived by that truth all of your long life! Prayer: O forgiving God, help us to recognize the pain of brokenness in life; but help us also to know that your love can help mend that brokenness through restoring love. Amen.********************************** And here's a picture of Raggedy holding the Mended Cup with a photo of Shirley:

Shirley, Raggedy and the cup

Telling the story