Reflecting on Juds today (especially as her Birthday falls on Wednesday of this week, the 21st of July, a Birthday that she had shared with her younger sister, Audrey) I was perusing some Family books that I have here in my collection.  I came across 'Kahlil Gibran: A Self-Portrait" - a book that Juds had given to her Dad, Guy Bromley on his Birthday in 1978.  Having not even picked up the book to read in many years, I happened to take it up today and opened it to the following passage:

"The most beautiful word on the lips of mankind," said Gibran, "is the word 'Mother', and the most beautiful call is the call of 'my mother'.  It is a word full of hope and love, a sweet and kind word coming from the depths of the heart.  The mother is everything - she is our consolation in sorrow, our hope in misery, and our strength in weakness. She is the source of love, mercy, sympathy, and forgiveness.  He who loses his mother loses a pure soul who blesses and guards him constantly.

"Everything in nature bespeaks the mother.  The sun is the mother of earth and gives it its nourishment of heat; it never leaves the universe at night until it has put the earth to sleep to the song of the sea and the hymn of birds and brooks.  And the earth is the mother of trees and flowers.  It produces them, nurses them and weans them.  The trees and flowers become mothers of their great fruits and seeds.  And the mother, the prototype of all existence, is the eternal spirit, full of beauty of love."

Thinking of you Juds, and missing you much.  I know that you will continue dancing into Eternal Life, Light and Love.  Indeed, 'Many Happy Returns' as you return to Source.  Pun not intended! :D

Juds was always fond of making fruits salads and freshly squeezed juices from the abundance of fruits growing in the bountiful back yard at # 8 in Hope Pastures. One of her regular juices was limeaid. Growing up, we, as family members, were quite accustomed to the paucity of sugar in Juds' juices!

When my hubby, Wayne, and I started dating, he would regularly pass by our family home to visit my mom Juds and Grandmother Ms. Mons while I was away studying for a year in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  They would extend their usual warm Hamilton Hospitality to Wayne whenever he visited.

When I went back to Jamaica after my studies, Wayne, in his usual polite way, quietly commented to me about Juds 'sugar-deprived' juices that she would regulary serve him.  He looked concerned, half-jokingly wondering if it was a deliberate 'cut-mi-nature' ploy my mom was conspiring against him, especially as I was coming back to Jamaica soon!  Laughingly, I explained to him that that was her habitual brew and was not deliberately designed to 'limit his libido'!  As her sister Audrey would always irreverently claim: 'When Juds meking juice, she stay eena Half Way Tree and try throw di sugar into di jug way up here in Hope Pastures!"

My mom, Juds, was an extremely loving, caring lady.  Her care extended not only to people but to animals. I remember so many occasions at number 8 in Hope Pastures, when a bird, not realizing that the glass at the front panes was there, would thud against the glass and fall stunned to the ground.  Juds would rush outside, cradle the stunned bird, stroke its feathers, and give it 'sugary water' as she would say, until it could fly away.  She would gently guide little tree frogs, who had somehow wandered inside, back to the front door or to the louvre windows, so that they could hop back out to freedom.  When the little amphibian grew tired, she would patiently wait for it to rest before continuing its journey.  Little bugs that fell upside down, unable to right themselves, would find a patient Juds picking it up carefully with her gentle hands to rest it softly on a plant outside.

Juds exposed me to many cultural events and different world view and religions. Having attended a Jewish Prep School, a Catholic High School and gone with our family friends to Bahai' religious festivities, Duvali Celebrations, Rastafarian Ceremonies, and Anglican Worship, among others, she instilled in me an innate respect for the One Divine Creator who expresses through varied genuine religious.  The metaphysical and esoteric exposures that Juds exposed me to and the priceless Spiritual experiences that we shared I will always treasure.

My mom was very creative and helped to instill that creativity in me, having to sometime 'tun yu han mek fashun', as we Jamaicans like to say.  I have fond memories of doing collages with her, gathing bark from the trees outside, and leather material from Guy Bromley, my grandfather, to make many creations and think 'out of the box'.  She encouraged me to think of the world as my oyster, to never adopt a 'big fish in small pond' approach, and to always respect the Divine inherent in each person that I met. Whenever I was despairing, angry, or confused, Juds would quote some words of wisdom to help me to remember that "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience - we are spiritual beings having a human experience." 

Juds was selfless, almost to a fault, and I think that sometimes, her rather lofty ideals made it somewhat hard for 'mere mortals' to relate to. Lol!  But I genuinely believe she always meant well. Her last words to me were, "Bless you. Love you."  Right back at you Juds!  As I know that life does not begin at birth, nor end at death, we will be together again.  Enjoy your freedom from this mortal coil and thanks for being such a loving mom. Love and Light, now and always.