Just last weekend I had the joy of attending and speaking at the HEART conference in Matamata (Home Educators Annual Retreat). Just before one session a woman approached me and said, “I don’t know why, but whenever I look at you I feel like crying.” Then she went on to say that each time she saw my eyes she felt like sobbing. I asked her if she knew why. She shook her head and said it was just that my eyes reminded her of a woman that had helped her through a very difficult time in her life when she was still at school in Kaeo. She told me she used to go this woman’s house and help her make Christian bookmarks. As soon as she said that, my own eyes filled with tears and I asked her, “Was the lady’s name Leone Harris?” But I already knew the answer. She looked at me in surprise and said, “Yes! But how did you know?” And I told her, “She’s my mother!”
How amazing. This woman had never seen me before, but she experienced this huge emotional response when she saw my eyes. One pair of eyes out of 240 pairs of eyes there that weekend! Incredible. I’ve been told many times before how much I look like my mum, but never has it been so wonderfully demonstrated as it was that day. I couldn’t wait to get home and tell my darling mum the story.