January 29, 2005

A Final Tribute to My Mom

To all my friends,Eric, spoke as did my sister and some close family friends. I also had a chance to speak and would like to share what I said during the service. I first read the letter my son, Bradley, wrote to Momma before she passed away. Here is what I said following the reading...

We laid Momma to rest yesterday, Thursday, January 27, 2005. It was a beautiful service, and truly memorialized her life. There were so many flowers and plants - all of them gorgeous...in life, Mom would have been so thrilled with the flowers - roses, day lilies, irises....and so many in her favorite colors of purple and lavender. My husband,

"I remember when I was a little girl, around Bradley's age, I worried about Mom and Dad because they were a bit older than my friends' parents. I feel so blessed to have spent 36 years of life with Momma. She had a profound influence on my life. These are some of the things that will always remind me of Momma:

• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
• Hobby Lobby
• music - especially Spanish songs and oldies
• peanut butter and bananas
• a good game of cribbage
• spinach - with just a touch of vinegar
• Christmas
• my ability to balance a checkbook
• BLT's with Dad's homegrown tomatoes
• the most recent "As Seen on TV" gadgets
• my love for Southwestern decorations/nic-nacs
• home canned green beans - don't forget the bacon and onion
• Howard the Duck
• Sylvia Browne
• the color lavender
• grackels
• frogs
• Hershey's Peanut Butter Treasures
• strawberries
• Wheel of Fortune

I will miss Momma's laugh, her feistiness, her joy for the holidays, her love of my children, her cards in the mail, her stories about Dad, her frogs, her ornaments and her wit and wisdom. I know that now she's our guardian angel in Heaven, but to me she's been our angel all along."

It's tough for me to believe she's gone. When I think about it, my heart hurts. I think about how sick and in pain she was, and how, just a few days before she died, and well after she could no longer talk very well, she wanted to move to a chair from her bed. We wrapped her arms around me and I virtually carried her over to the chair in a "hug." When we got there, I could tell she was nervous as she was moaning as I was placing her in the chair. I kept telling her "I love you, I love you, I love you" in order to keep her calm. Once I got her sat down, she wouldn't let go of me and, clear as a bell, said over and over "I love you, I love you, I love you" back to me. It was one of the last times my Momma spoke to me. I will treasure that moment in my heart forever.

I wanted to share one last thing - something that was printed inside of Momma's memorial folder. It is so fitting for my Mom, given her brave fight with cancer:

He Only Takes the Best

God saw she was getting tired,
And a solution was not to be,
So He put His arms around her
And whispered "come with Me."
With tearful eyes we watched her endure
And saw her taken away.
Although we couldn't bear to lose her,
We could not bid her stay.
A golden heart stopped beating,
Hard working hands laid to rest.
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the best.

I also want to say a heart-felt thanks to each one of you who has had us in your thoughts and prayers. Those prayers sustained us, and got us through some of the toughest days in our life. God bless all of you.

Merri, Eric and family