Always Prepared

We all know that being a mom means you always need to be prepared for any kind of situation. I tell you, my mom experienced just about every kind imaginable. Oh the stories… But she was even prepared to leave us even though she didn’t know she’d be leaving so soon. The night she passed my sister found a paper clipping (that would become the back of her mass card) in mom’s wallet. Then a few months later, while I was tasked with the job of sorting out the house, a Better Homes and Gardens cook book fell from the shelf I was organizing. From that old cook book, with a duct taped spine, came a poem written in my mom’s distinctive penmanship. I read it and wept.

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October 21, 2003

Remember me in quiet days, while raindrops whisper on your pane. But in your memories have no grief, let the joy we knew remain. Remember me when evening stars look down on you with steadfast eyes. Remember me if once you wake, to catch a glimpse of red sunrise. And when your thoughts do turn to me, know that I would not have you cry. But live for me, and laugh for me, when you are happy so am I. Remember an old joke we shared, remember me when spring walks by. Think once of me when you are glad, and while you live I shall not die.

The surprise that fell out of the old duct taped cook book

The surprise that fell out of the old duct taped cook book