One Long Year

Dearest Mom,

It was a very hard day for us... for me.  Your absence is still felt deeply in each and every one of my days.  I still start to call you all the time... and I can hear your voice at the times I need to.  I'm reminded over and over again just how important you are to me.

I know you're not really gone.  The faith you instilled in me absolutely shouts at me that you are in Heaven right now.  I know you are praying for all of us.  I really do know and believe these things.

But, God help me, I still miss you so damn much.

Today, I will honor your memory by doing the things you liked to do on Sundays.  As I do them, I will think of you.  I may cry once or twice today (or twenty times), but I will also smile many times.

Your life mattered.  The things you did on this Earth will echo for generations to come.  No one has ever defined success as well as Emerson did with the below poem.  I can offer no greater tribute to you than to dedicate it to you.

Love you more...

Success

To laugh often and love much;
to win the respect of intelligent persons
and the affection of children;
to earn the approbation of honest critics
and to endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to give of one's self;
to leave the world a little better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
to have played and laughed with enthusiasm
and sung with exultation;
to know that even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived,
this is to have succeeded.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

On this day:

Requiescat in pace, Margie Ann...

-kmg