A Woman to Remember

This is what I wrote for Mom's funeral. Of course, there was no way that I could have made it through a reading of it, but our friend and minister Todd McRay read it for me:

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Mom loved kids. She loved her family. She loved her man. She loved the Lord. Our mother was not perfect, but her imperfections made her the amazing woman that she was. She was proud, but her pride was for her family. She was just a little bit vain, but her vanity was tempered with humility. She enjoyed her regular trips to the beauty shop. She liked having pretty hair and pretty nails, but she also loved digging in her flower beds. She would often get her nails glossy and perfect only to happily destroy them by working in the yard. She had an unapologetic love for chocolate. We had a candy drawer in our house that was always filled with the good stuff, and it was as much for her as it was for us. She often had a Butterfinger Blast from Sonic as her supper on a hot summer night.

She was just a bit greedy when it came to spending time with her grandsons. When the boys were babies, I was often pushed aside while she rolled around on the floor with them. She had a wonderful lust for reading and a passion for teaching children to read. Books and magazines were always close at hand in our house. Her bible was worn from heavy use. While she was, quite possibly, the least lazy person I've ever known, she did love sitting on the couch and watching old movies on TV. A rainy day was the only excuse she needed for a John Wayne or Doris Day movie marathon.

She had a bit of a temper and her wrath was often sparked when one of us tracked mud through the house. Her wrath often found mischievous outlets, such as her tendency to dump ice cold water on Jimbo when he failed to get up and ready for school on time.

She was generous with her smiles, generous with her hugs, and generous with her love. No, she wasn't perfect, but she was pretty amazing.

As children, we knew our home was open to friends. It wasn't unusual for our family of four to grow to five or six at supper time. It wasn't odd to find an extra head on a pillow at night. It wasn't abnormal to have an extra passenger in the car on the way to a football or basketball game.

She took joy in her family and in her friends. She took joy in her students and, later, in her grandsons. She fought the evil disease of Alzheimer's for so many years. The disease stole pieces of her from us over the years. It managed to take memories from her, but it cannot steal our memories of her. Let's remember her as the woman we loved: a woman who loved kids, loved her family, loved her man, and loved the Lord.