Three and a half years ago, my family lost one of the dearest people in our lives.
My Mom was an extraordinary person. Faithfully married to my Dad for almost fifty years, mother to ten children, and grandmother to twenty-six grandchildren, there was nothing more dear to her heart than her family. I dream of emulating her never-ending patience, her unconditional love, her ability to balance such a large family, her self-sacrificing servant heart, her unparalleled ability to cook, her gift of hospitality. My trusted friend, my confidant, my Mother. Her absence has literally been felt every day since July 25, 2004.
"A child speaking to a friend of his home, was asked; "Where is your home?" Looking up with loving eyes at his mother, he replied, "Where mother is." Home! What a hallowed name! How full of enchantment and how dear to the heart! Home is the magic circle within which the weary spirit finds refuge. It is the sacred asylum to which the care-worn heart retreats to find rest from the toils and cares of life. Home! That name touches every fiber of our soul. Nothing but death can break its spell. And, as dear as home can be, is the mother that presided over it, and that we loved. Long years may have flown since we saw that home, and since the dearest of all earthly friends has slept the long and silent sleep of death, but that home and that mother will never cease to awaken the sweeten recollections of our lives. "Home, Sweet Home!" -John McCoy from Golden Thoughts of Mother, Home & Heaven.
Today would have been my Mom's 74th birthday.
Happy Birthday, Mom. "May the dear Lord bless you", as you revel in His presence.
We are all thinking of you today, and miss you dearly.
