Warm Socks: Life Lessons from My Father

As a child, teenager, and young adult Edna didn’t realize the value of the gifts God had given her. She felt she had been cheated out of everything life had to offer her, wanting to be socially compatible with the “elite people” even though she didn’t know anything about their character. Since her daddy, Berkeley Herbert Brown, had the responsibility of taking care of his family, Edna believed he hadn’t fulfilled his role as the provider because she didn’t get the things she wanted as a child.
One day while she was waiting in the Internal Medicine Clinic, Edna connected with a stranger who was anxious to share her heartbreaking story. The stranger’s story made Edna reflect on her upbringing and the values she was taught from her father. Edna’s challenges were replaced with an appreciation of the gifts God had given her through her parents, and she recalled good memories of her happy childhood and teenage life with her father and mother. She realized it wasn’t about what her father had given her, but how he had taught her to have a happy life and fulfilled purpose.

Edna Brown Mark resides in Burlington, North Carolina. She is a widow, mother of two sons and stepmother of a daughter. Edna retired from health care, having worked forty years as a manager at UNC Chapel Hill North Carolina and Piedmont Health SeniorCare in Burlington. Currently, she is a board director for Piedmont Health Services and chairman of Piedmont Health Board Development Committee in Chapel Hill. Other than writing, Edna enjoys cooking, nature walks, and spending time with her two granddaughters.