The Dackel Princess

To My Friends

If you should die
before me, ask if you
could bring a friend.

– Stone Temple Pilots-

If you live to be a hundred,
I want to live to be
a hundred minus one day,
so I never have to live
without you.

– Winnie the Pooh-

True friendship is
like sound health;
the value of it is
seldom known
until it is lost.

– Charles Caleb Colton-

A real friend
is one who walks in
when the rest
of the world walks out.

Don’t
walk in front of me,
I may not follow.
Don’t walk behind me,
I may not lead.
Walk beside me and
be my friend.
– Albert Camus-

Strangers are
just friends waiting to
happen.
Friends are the Bacon
Bits in the Salad
Bowl of Life.Friendship is one mind
in two bodies.
– Mencius-

Friends are God’s way of taking care of us.

I’ll lean on you and
you lean on me and
we’ll be okay

– Dave Matthews-

If all my friends were
to jump off a bridge,
I wouldn’t jump with them,
I’d be at the bottom to
catch them.

Everyone hears
what you say.
Friends listen to
what you say.
Best friends
listen to what you don’t
say.

We all take different
paths in life,
but no matter where we go,
we take a little of each
other everywhere ..;

– Tim McGraw-

My father always used
to say that when you die,
if you’ve got five real friends,
then you’ve had a great life.;

– Lee Iacocca-

Hold a true friend with both your hands.;

– Nigerian Proverb-

A friend is someone who knows
the song in your heart
and can sing it back to you
when you have forgotten
the words.;

– Unknown-

Today my Mom would have turned 85 years old. Instead, my sister and I are mourning her loss, as she left us last August.

Her last days were brutal. Cancer is like that. You suffer and suffer and suffer to the point, where you see your loved one released into the next world and you thank God their battle is over.

So it was with Mom.

She was born Rosamond Ruth Prussman, to parents Frederick and Mary. She had a much loved older brother Robert and a cousin George, who grew up like a brother to her. In fact, until the day they passed, they really adored each other.

Mom’s brother, Robert and his wife Cynthia.

Aunt Betty, Larry, Janet and Uncle George.

She met my Dad when she was 13 and was dancing and my Dad played the piano. I asked Dad once what made him look twice at Mom and he said “It was a bright red sweater that she had! She looked so beautiful in it! I was hooked!”

A collage of their life together.

They married early on, and Dad finished getting his teaching degree. They moved to Monument Beach, Massachusetts ,

and lived in a little white cottage in the Burton-wood section, where my brother, Richard and my sister Melodie were born.

They moved to Falmouth, Massachusetts and shortly after, Mom had me. During my teenage years we fought like cats and dogs. Mom and I said some very cruel things to each other, including the fact that she wished I’d never been born.

But flash forward to Mom’s funeral. Her childhood, lifelong friend came over to me and told me that when Mom told her she was pregnant with me, she admonished her to “get rid of it!” But Mom didn’t.

That’s when it hit me. Sometimes we say things we really don’t mean. Because obviously, Mom wanted me very much, because here I am!

Thanks Mom!

My parent’s stayed married for well over 60 years.

Mom was with him until the end. She never remarried. I think in her mind and her heart she was always Jimmie’s girl!

Her last days were spent, not in fear of dying, no, Mom knew Christ and she knew she would see Dad again. She just worried about Mel and me.

Me, Mel & Janet with Mom.

The last time we were together before Mom was diagnosed with Liver Cancer. It was at the wedding of my neice Jin and her husband, Ian. Mom was so happy. I almost didn’t go because of my facial surgery, but I am so glad I did now.

The last time I saw her, we sat there, with Janet and the four of us were talking quietly. I asked Mom how we would know if she was with us. She smiled and said “You will see butterflies, and that will be me.”

And you know what? We see beautiful butterflies all the time. And we smile!

Happy Birthday, Mom!