Good morning, Momma. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
It's the month for MAY birthdays...and yours is the first one. I still remember how I felt I had become part of the family when I learned that both you and Genevia Marie had May birthdays. In my birth family the birthdays were most always in March or November. Guess I should have felt honored to have a celebration month of my own but instead that made me feel like an outsider. Thank you for the warm welcome to the Abbott family.

Happy Heavenly Birthday Momma.
You are missed.
You made me feel so welcomed when I joined the family and that made me so happy.

It is so hard to believe you have been gone 20 years.
You were a wonderful Mother in law to me.
You. made me feel welcomed from the moment I met you.
You are missed everyday.

Easter was earlier this year so I remembered your passing a couple of weeks ago. It is SO difficult to believe that it has been TWENTY years since you left us. I still clearly remember that last morning when Sylvia and I came to the hospital... Your poor heart was working so hard...like that of a hummingbird.
What an example you set for us. You had thought through so much of the planning...for which we were most grateful. I especially LOVED the little notes you left of special things. "This was from Tom and Ruth and I enjoyed it very much." It is a high bar to strive for as I'm reaching the upper division age myself. Most days I think of myself as "70-ish" but the reality is that in 2 more years I will be "80",,, and that IS "ish".
You were loved and admired by many... and are still greatly missed by me. Hugs

Happy Birthday, Momma. I left you a bouquet of roses this morning. You know how much we both enjoy them. The bushes in my "new" rose garden are all in bloom today and so pretty. (Not yet ready for cutting.)
Just wanted to let you know your special day is being remembered... and the memories are sweet. Sending love.

Good morning, Momma. Happy 19th anniversary... how can we have been missing you that long?
I have another surprise for you-- I am now living back in Apache Junction (and have been here for 6 months). Hopefully this will be more permanent. I am taking my time getting settled, but have enough "put together" that I am really comfortable, and able to entertain a bit too.
Brady and I have been exchanging e-mail messages and memories. Today he suggested that we plant more deep purple iris because that's what he recalls were blooming when we last all gathered on Northrup Ave. I'm leaning toward looking for a blue rose to add into my fledgling rose garden here-- so far I have 2 bushes--one pink peace and one a yellow bi-color.
One of the blessings of this move is "rediscovering" things that have been "lost". I recently came across a pretty gold cross that I inherited from your jewelry box. I have "always" worn it at Easter time because this season brings many memories... but for at least the past 3 years (probably more like 5 or 6) I have been unable to find it...and I HAVE looked. Feeling blessed that it is now hanging where I see it daily, and planning to wear it tomorrow.
Last weekend I found one last pink Hyacinth bulb. I had thought my season was over. Of course it followed me home and is here on the window ledge in my office (visible right above my computer screen). The fragrance is exquisite and I enjoy inhaling it as I open the door in the mornings. Today I see that it has "split" and is now pushing up a second bloom stalk. Just for you!!
Love you and miss you...but happy that you and Tom can celebrate together.

Happy Birthday, Momma!
You probably can see that I have moved since the April post. I am now back in Arizona... living in Surprise! ...which was a surprise for me as well. My days are quite busy with unpacking boxes, as you can imagine. 
But I didn't want the day to go by without acknowledging what a BIG part you played in my life and how very much I still love and miss you.

Good morning, Momma. Sorry I missed posting yesterday, which was the actual anniversary date...18 years!! I still vividly remember coming up to the hospital with Sylvia and watching the monitor reflecting how fast your heart was pumping. It reminded me then of a hummingbird's rapid flutter...and that image has stayed with me. 
Now my California home is in boxes.. more of them each day! ..as I prepare to move back to Arizona (in time for your birthday!) Like a special blessing on this move, the security door of my new home features a hummingbird. That motif is going to be featured in my furnishings too. Native Americans view hummingbirds as a sign of healing and peace...which is the atmosphere I want to create.
Its hard to believe you've been gone so long...but memories of our time together surface nearly every day. You were such a special person in my life. I guess a person is never truly gone so long as their memory remains... and yours definitely does.

Good morning, Momma-- Happy Birthday! I'm bringing you a bouquet of roses this morning... lovely fragrant ones. I remember how you loved the bush that bloomed blue/lavender alongside the house on Northrup. I kept a "Blue Moon" bush at Jasmine for years as a memory. Now my offerings are pink, yellow and deep red... fresh from my garden...with love.
The memories are SWEET.
As I was baking banana bread this week and using the stainless steel 1-cup measuring cup, I thought again about how yours disappeared and was missing for the longest time. Later we found it in your pantry, left in a jar of dried beans where JIm and Tom had used it as a dipper. I still have it!
Love and miss you still...

Happy heavenly Birthday, you Centenarian. How you would have LOVED celebrating this day with your family.
Today we remember you with much love.

How is it possible that SIXTEEN years have passed? You are still part of the fabric of my life. I learned SO much from you. It will be 45 years this summer that you welcomed me as a daughter.
When I bake, I use the measuring cup that went missing from your kitchen for over a year, only to be found in the jar of dried beans in the pantry. I have some of your handwritten recipes...and a few of your cooking pots, but that hasn't helped me deliver the Momma-delicious meals you produced on your old gas stove. I think your secret ingredient was LOVE.
Of course during this season I always think of you when the YELLOW roses blossom. I didn't get to bring the blue rose bush with me from Mesa, but I think Nichole still has it in the front yard on Jasmine.
And "Good Friday" (regardless of the calendar date) is always special as the day we said our last good-byes.
Love you always Momma.

Good morning, Momma~ It seems IMPOSSIBLE that you've already been gone from Midland for 12 YEARS. Gone...but still very much with us in thought and memories. I still have yellow roses (and a blue one) in my yard to remind me of your affection. And that old windchime that used to hang outside your kitchen window has been in my yard for quite some time now. It doesn't make the "music" of some of my other chimes...but what could you expect from tubes of pipe with a tail cut from a windmill blade..?? It's still one of my treasures. I mentioned to someone just the other day that if I WERE to be a mother-in-law (which isn't going to happen), I'd want to be just like you. You were THE BEST ..and then, I think the mold was broken.

Momma was a great Mother-in law, she made me welcome to the family from the day Jim and I married and really before that. My friends could not believe how lucky I was to have a great Mother-in law, they did not have the experience that I had with their Mother-in Laws, she was the best, she is missed everyday.
Becky