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My Mother died in 1983 when I was thirty-four years old. I adored her and my admiration did not wane with her passing. She was loving and kind, blessed with a great sense of humor. To this day I marvel at her intelligence. Insight and knowledge not learned from school books, she was not afforded the opportunity to finish high school. She quit school to help raise her nine brothers and sisters.

Life for her as a child and a young woman was difficult. Raised in a poor family during the bleak 1920's era with an alcoholic father. A mean man when he was drunk, which according to her was most of the time. He died a month before I was born, therefore I never knew him. Although she loved her father, I think she feared him more. His dependency on booze robbed them of any facsimile of a good life. Sadly his drunkenness forced her to grow up before her time, but ironically produced in her a force to be reckoned with later in life.

She was a young woman on a mission, wanting a better life than what she had. As with all of us, the trials and tribulations life presents is what molds us into the people we become. I believe my Mothers childhood is in part responsible for the loving adult she became. Growing up poor and uneducated she knew exactly what she did not want for her own children.

Her skills were self taught, she was an excellent seamstress and a terrific cook. She decorated our home with enormous creativity and very little money. I remember her saying her first home cost less than the down payment I made on mine. She was an expert when it came to "stretching a dime". Fortunately it was a trait she passed on to her children.

My Mother always put her family first, we were the most important and treasured aspects of her life. She made certain we were educated and well mannered adults. Providing us with guidance to help us make wise choices. Fine examples of her wisdom and years of unfaltering love and encouragement. She also taught us the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. When we wavered from the straight and narrow path, she taught us discipline.

When I felt broken, she helped me heal. When challenges in my life were too daunting, she was my support. When I had my heart broken from a lost love, she reached inside and softly held it in her hands until it could beat again on it's own. She is my Mother, my best friend and forever she will be my inspiration.

The day her first grandson was born she claimed to be the richest woman on this earth. It was then, I think she truly realized that her dream came true. She had accomplished her ultimate goal. The aspiration she sought the day she left her parents house. To provide at better life than she had for her offspring. She adored her grandchildren and fortunately all seven had the grand opportunity feel her love before she died.

The admiration I feel for this woman cannot not be measured in mere words. I think about the struggles and hardships she endured. The times, I later discovered she went without so that her children did not. She gave me the gift of life filled with her love. Her only request was that I pass it on to my children. Dear God, how I admire this woman I call My Mother.

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