Sandy was an amazing woman. Strong , beautiful , sassy and most of all loving , she touched many lives in her time here on this earth. Her family was never defined by blood but by love , it didn't matter who you were or where you came from once this momma lion accepted you as her cub you were family and you knew it. She was a loving mother to many , she had a hug that could warm you on the coldest of days and a look only a mother could give that could make you freeze in your tracks just as quickly. As her children we came to her for wisdom , comfort and even discipline whether we wanted it or not...when she spoke we heard her and she made sure of it.

       I met Sandy when I was 12 , she is my Momma , blood doesn't matter. When she met me I was in love with her youngest son , Michael ( My husband today) and I was also a broken child , a broken child that was by strange coincedence living in her own childhood home in the very room she had had when she was a girl. I came from a twisted home with a mother who was too busy chasing her wants and living her life to care for me. My alcoholic stepfather didn't make life easier or the fact that my mother loved him more than her own daughter. Somehow though this Sandy saw through my smile straight to my pain , she knew I was in trouble and a lost little duckling who had all but given up on the world. She took the time to break down the walls I'd built and get to the heart of my world and found it in her heart to make me part of hers. She chose a thin waif of a girl ,poor , half starved and broken to be her daughter and she became the mother my mother could never be.

   Our lives have been intertwined ever since not because of Mike but in spite of him. Whether I was with her son or not I was always her daughter and she loved me like only a mother could. Advice , love and a stern word when needed was never more than a visit or a phone call away and there were many nights she jumped in her car and drove to "our" house and rescued me from the darkest of my family situations , welcoming me into her home as if it was my own and in every way you could define a loving home , it was. 

  As I grew and she taught me and guided me into womanhood as I became a mother myself , she was a proud grandmother and a guiding light. She leaned on me and I on her in our times of need. I was her go to girl when her son wouldn't listen or when her doctors were being idiots and needed a good stern word when she was too sick to give it to them. Many people ask me how I am so strong , how after such a rough start how did I become the mother lion I am today and the answer is simple , Momma Sandy , lioness , she taught me well. She saved me in more ways than I will ever be able to share here but I am going to try.  

I love you Momma and I miss you to the Heavens and back....your always with me.

Love Your Daughter ,

Erin