Many years ago when I was about 10, I remember coming home from school and heading straight to the cookie jar. When I lifted the lid I found a little scrap of paper taped to the inside of the jar lid. In my mom’s handwriting it said, “Myself Third”.

I didn’t think anything about it but when I went to the cupboard to get a glass for my milk, there was another note that said, “Myself Third”. It still didn’t make much of an impression on me until I went to the bathroom and when I lifted the lid, there was the same message taped on the underside of the toilet lid. Now my curiosity was beginning to get to me and the hunt was on to see where else I could find that strange message. It was everywhere. In the closet, in my sock drawer, on the stove top, under plates, just about everywhere I looked. I finally found my mother and asked about this strange note.

She said she was thinking about life and decided that she should always consider herself last. God first, others second and myself third. What a great way to put things in to proper order. Thank you Mom for that fantastic message. Mom lived to be 95 and never changed her outlook on life and God. She was the most religious person I know and if she is not in Heaven now then there is no Heaven.

I am now 66 years old and when I turned 50, and was given the big “50” birthday party, I was asked to say something, I had only one thing to say and it was to my mother, I said, “Mom, 50 years and nine months ago, thank you for not saying no.”

She said, “You’re welcome, son”. Now I say to you, mom, “Thank you for the values of life you taught me and I will always try to think of myself as Myself Third.”

Charles “Chuck” Dishno dishgov@mcn.net

I am a retired printer living in Dillon, Montana. I enjoy my beautiful Chinese wife, Roz and our two cats, Amy, a Persian cross and Max, a purebred Siamese. We spend our winters in Yuma, Arizona. My hobbies include fishing, model trains, photography and theatre organ music. We belong to the Yuma Theatre Organ Society.