.

It is hard to write about my mother in the past tense. She was an amazing person who I admired in her perseverance, her humor, and wisdom. I believe that a successful person is someone who is accomplished also in spirit and my mother embodied that. She was not only my mother but my teacher, my minister, my sister, and my best friend.  

She liked to write, and was a poet at heart. An admirer of art, her favorite painter was Salvador Dali whom she learned about in college. Her favorite musicians were Sam Cooke and Elvis of course. She loved gospel music, and a little bit of everything else. She liked strawberry ice cream, craved french fries for some strange reason, a good book, all animals, and to observe the weather. She didn’t smoke and never drank, she loved and had faith in God above all, and she loved me.  

 She laughed through the tears and she prayed through the trials. She inspired me in so many ways, in ways I can’t even put into words. She was a success as a daughter, as a mother, and as a person.

The Traveler
By James Dillet Freeman


She has put on invisibility.
Dear Lord, I cannot see—
But this I know, although the road
ascends
And passes from my sight,
That there will be no night;
That You will take her gently by the
hand
And lead her on
Along the road of life that never ends,
And she will find it is not death but
dawn.
I do not doubt that You are there as
here,
And You will hold her dear.

Our life did not begin with birth,
It is not of the earth;
And this that we call death, it is no
more
Than the opening and closing of a
door—
And in Your house how many rooms
must be
Beyond this one where we rest
momently.

Dear Lord, I thank You for the faith
that frees,
The love that knows it cannot lose its
own;
The love that, looking through the
shadows, sees
That You and she and I are ever one!