Remembering

Sometimes I know the words to say,

Give thanks for all you've done,

But then they fly up and away,

As quickly as they come.

How could I possibly thank you enough,

The one who makes me whole,

The one to whom I owe my life,

The forming of my soul.

The one who tucked me in at night,

The one who stopped my crying,

The one who was the expert,

At picking up when I was lying.

The one who saw me off to school,

And spent sad days alone,

Yet magically produced a smile,

As soon as I came home.

The one who makes such sacrifices,

To always put me first,

Who lets me test my broken wings,

In spite of how it hurts.

Who paints the world a rainbow,

When it's filled with broken dreams,

Who explains it all so clearly,

When nothing's what it seems.

Are there really any words for this?

I find this question tough...

Anything I want to say,

Just doesn't seem enough.

What way is there to thank you,

For your heart, your sweat, your tears,

For ten thousand little things you've done,

For oh-so-many years.

For changing with me as I changed,

Accepting all my flaws,

Not loving 'cause you had to,

But loving "just because."

For never giving up on me,

When your wits had reached their end,

For always being proud of me,

For being my best friend.

And so I come to realize,

The only way to say,

The only thank you that's enough,

Is clear in just one way.

Look at me before you,

See what I've become,

Do you see yourself in me?

The job that you have done?

All your hopes and all your dreams,

The strength that no one sees,

A transfer over many years,

Your best was passed to me.

Thank you for the gifts you give,

For everything you do,

But thank you, Mama, most of all,

For making dreams come true.

Love,

Your Daughter

The young mother set her foot on the path of life.

"Is this the long way?" she asked.

The guide said, "Yes, and the way is hard.

You will be old before you reach the end of it.

But the end will be better than the beginning."

But the young mother was happy,

and she could not believe that anything

could be better than these years.

So she played with her children,

gathered flowers for them along the way,

and bathed them in the clear streams.

As the sun shone on them, the young mother cried,

"Nothing could ever be lovelier than this."

Then the night came ... and the storm ...

and the path became dark.

The children shook with fear and cold.

The mother drew them close to her and covered

them with her mantel.

The children said, "Mother, we are not afraid,

for you are near.

No harm can come to us."

Then morning came.

There was a hill ahead, and the mother

and her children climbed it and grew weary.

She would frequently tell the children,

"Keep your patience because we are almost there."

So the children continued to climb.

When they reached the top, they said,

"Mother, we would not have done it without you."

When the mother laid down at night,

she looked up at the stars and thought,

"This is a better day than the last,

for my children have learned fortitude

in the face of hardness.

Yesterday I gave them courage.

Today I have given them strength."

The next day, strange clouds appeared

which darkened the earth ...

clouds of war, hate, and evil.

As the children groped and stumbled,

the mother said,

"Look up! Lift your eyes to the light!"

The children looked.

They saw above the clouds,

an everlasting glory, and it guided them

beyond the darkness.

That night, the mother said,

" This is the best day of all,

for I have shown my children God."

The days went on, and the weeks,

and the months, and the years.

The mother grew old and she was little

and bent over.

But her children were tall and strong,

and walked with courage.

When the way was rough,

they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather.

At last they came to the top of a hill.

They could see a shining road with a

golden gate that opened wide.

The mother said,

"I have reached the end of my journey.

I now know that the end is better than

the beginning, for my children can walk alone,

and their children after them."

The children said,

"You will always walk with us, Mother,

even when you have gone through the gates.

They stood and watched her as she went on alone.

The gates closed after her. The children said,

"We cannot see her, but she is still with us.

A mother like ours is more than a memory.

She is a living presence."

Our mother is always with us.

She's the whisper of the leaves as we walk down the street.

She's the smell of bleach in our freshly laundered socks.

She's the cool hand on our brow when we're not feeling well.

Our Mother lives inside our laughter.

She's crystallized in every tear drop we shed.

She's the place we came from ... our first home.

She's the map we follow with every step we take.

She's our first love and our first heartbreak,

and nothing on earth can separate us from her...

Not time...Not space...Not even death!

This page is a tribute to the memory of my beloved Mother Geraldine.

The Song That Is Playing Is Last Date By Floyd Cramer,

It Was A Special Favorite Of Hers.

I know that the best mother in the world is each and every one's Mother,

and I of course think mine was the BEST.

She was a diabetic and on insulin for over thirty years,

she had many health problems in her later years.

She gave birth to and raised ten children under trialsome and abusive circumstances, and did a very good job of it I might add.

I was her firstborn,

she gave birth to me on 9/15/42 just twenty-three days after her fifteenth birthday, my Father James was twenty-one at the time.

My Brother James (Buddy as I named him when he was born) and I are their children, unfortunately they were divorced four years after my birth and when I was six my Mother married a man with many problems including being an alcoholic, her life was a really hard one, she worked two jobs to take care of her children at a time when most women didn't even work outside the home.

She suffered a lot of physical abuse, including a broken jaw for which she got no medical help for three days when I was seven years old!

I still cry when I think of the horrible pain she must have endured.

I therefore grew up hating my Stepfather and I still do!

My Mother like many Mothers was a special person...she had a hard life but she was never bitter about her lot in life, she was happy and content in her later years even though materially she had very little and was not in good health.

At the end of her life she was surrounded by her family and friends, and told us that she hadn't realized just how much we all loved her, we were happy to know that she did know how much she was loved

and cherished by all of us before she died.

Even people who knew her from a senior citizens group came to bid her farewell in the hospital and shed tears at her passing.

She always looked for the best in people and in circumstances that were beyond her control, her outlook on life was always a positive one.

When she left this life she left behind ten children, thirty-three grandchildren and twenty-one great-grandchildren plus extended family members who love and miss her very much!

She was born 8/23/1927 in Haleyville Alabama

and died 12/8/1995 in Springfield Illinois.

December 10, 2007

My Dear Sweet Mama

It's so hard to believe that 12 years have past since my precious mother and friend died,

it seems as though it were just yesterday...

The pain has dulled to the point that I don't think of you constantly and cry at the very thought of you and ache from wanting to hug and kiss you and see your beautiful face,

but there still is not an entire day that passes

without me thinking of you for one reason or another,

I miss you so very much at this time of year...

because I would look so forward to you coming to visit with me in Mississippi so you get away from the harsh Illinois winters every year, how I long to revisit the times we spent together then.

I created this web page set especially for you Mama

and I know you would have been very proud of it,

you always took great pride in the accomplishments of your children

and grandchildren and I know it would have thrilled you

to know what I am creating

and the fact that I have created this web site.

I love you and miss you so much Mama...

I have now lost you and two of my sons...sweet David died in January, 2000

and our precious Michael died in May 2007, just 5 days before he would have been 46 years old,

my heart is broken and it will never mend...and I know yours would be too if you were still with us...I know how much you loved him, and he loved you with all his heart.

I want to believe that you, David and Michael are all together in heaven,

and that George is with you and him and Michael play their guitars for you, I truly hope that all of you are finally happy and at peace, your lives on earth were so hard and filled with pain, I do so hope you are all at peace now.

I will love and miss you forever and a day.

Love, San.

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