Memories from the Budd Family

For fifteen years I was a missionary who would come to the US every now and then, and when in Atlanta, the Sylvester home was often a home base.  Not only is Stuart my very good friend, but getting to use his home as a base for a week or two at a time gave me a good chance to get to see a family in action, something I didn't see often as a single guy.  One of my main living examples of marriage and parenting came from Stuart and Carol.

Nine years into my missionary service, I found my wife-to-be, and Carol, with 4 kids, all of them rather young - was gracious to allow Stuart to travel half way around the world for a few days to be the best man at our wedding.  Not too many wives in her situation are so willing to let their husband leave home - for a fun reason.  Obviously, Carol valued her husband's friendships and gave him space to be a supportive friend.  I didn't fully realize the sacrifice at the time, but 3 kids of my own later - I certainly see the extra load she took on to make that possible.

Future visits to the Sylvester home from overseas was with my young bride, and then with two young children.  Allowing a family of 4 (with toddlers) to come stay with a family of 6 (with busy school aged children), and be such an awesome hostess could not have been easy - but we were never made to feel like we were a burden or in the way.  Carol gave us just the right amount of care and support to our mostly trivial needs, but gave us freedom to come and go and figure out things on our own as well.  We always felt so at home in her home.  We would feel refreshed by our time in the Sylvester home:  Carol spent time visiting with us, sharing life stories with her signature laugh, and spoke wisely about the real stuff that life is made of.  For a young couple with a young family, the Sylvester home became even more a living classroom about marriage and parenting. 

A joke in our home is how Carol gave a young married couple the task of learning how to change a diaper on one of their young children - and how complicated it seemed at the time.      

While it's usually easy to find things one doesn't like about any given person...finding something negative about Carol was impossible.  Carol was one of the most balanced, normal, yet real people we've ever met.  It's not because she had everything perfect - but she found a way to make life work with the right attitude, and she lived it well.

Her exit from this world to the next is this world's loss.  Our lives were better from time to time because of this gracious sister who gave us shelter and refreshment in our travels, and became a true friend.  

Brent and Alina Budd and kids:  Ilusha, Eadie, and Ian