Mom

I can see her as a little girl, dark hair in braids, running down that dusty road at Etta, hoeing weeds out of the garden, her bonnet dangling down her back, or picking wildflowers for a spring bouquet. She was the middle child in the Latty family, the mischievous one who was always busy but who loved to sit in her favorite chair by the fireplace and read. I was blessed because that child grew up, married, and became my mother.

Mom went home to be with the Lord nearly twenty-two years ago. She left a Mom-shaped space in my heart that nobody else can fill. She was my best friend and confidante. I’m sure she scolded me when I got into trouble as a child but I don’t remember those times. I do remember that she sat up with me many nights heating Vicks salve in a tablespoon and letting me breathe it when asthma wouldn’t let me sleep. I remember that she worked hard and did without a lot of things so that I could go to school and have piano lessons and wear pretty dresses that she made. One thing I’m very sure of: she loved her family and we came first in her life.

Love doesn’t die and I feel her love with me still. When spring comes and I plant flowers and watch them grow, I like to think that Mom is nearby,  admiring the blooms with me.

She is the heroine in the two books about her childhood, The Heritage of Etta Bend and Remembering Etta Bend. I’ve wondered what she would think of the Darcy and Flora series. Would she see herself as Flora? And, Ned McNeil…would Mom enjoy reading about this plucky lady’s adventures?

Mom never lived in a castle but she epitomized the word “lady”. An inner glow of gentility and grace marked all her days. She was fiercely loyal to her family and friends and, sometimes to my chagrin, she believed the best about everybody.

She left a wonderful example for me to follow as a mother and grandmother myself. Today, as every day, I miss her and am eternally grateful that of all the women in the world, the Lord blessed me so richly with Susie Latty Day, my mom.