SOME DAYS YOU JUST NEED YOUR MOTHER

I had a need for someone to love me
To teach me of life, and Heaven above me.
Someone to comfort, encourage, protect me
To laugh with and tease me and gently direct me.

Now that she's gone and I'm turning gray too
All the more evident is my need for you
You were always there to share in my joy
Whether with my girls, or my little boy
And you were there too when my eyes filled with tears
Showing your great wisdom and calming my fears.

I thank you today for your tender touch
For your prayers and your love that meant so much
For in this big world there will never be another
Who magnifies Jesus to me more than my Dear Mother

I AM EXPECTING !!
My eleventh great-grandchild.
Along with that eleven I have been given an
awesome opportunity to call five more my
Greats, too.
Adalyn will be the third little girl and we are all
waiting patiently for her arrival.
This afternoon a few of Tonya's friends gave her
a shower to which I was invited,
along with about eighteen other ladies.
How wonderful it is to have such excitement at this
time of my life.
Matthew and Tonya are going to make such
perfect parents to Adalyn.
The nursery waits patiently for someone
to lay this little bundle in that new beautiful bed.
Her closet is filled with little clothes, and
the mother and dad couldn't be happier.
May God continue to bless the three of you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, My Beloved

1945 dash 2005

These were our years, every one wonderful.
Even the declining years.

PAPA
I remember when you walked
In autumn
Across the mountains,
Alongside the streams that seep
Out of the rocks where one hill cleaves
To another,
Your silver hair tangled in the clouds you
Were bigger than mountains.

Even then, muffled by our shuffles through
The painted autumn ruffles on the ground
The sound of your blood was
A hammer
Welding wings
On the anvil of your soul
I do not mean that you were old
Or you were dying then
But that your spirit knew of
Flying then long before your feet ever
Left the ground.

I hope I paid enough respect
To your trains in the basement.
I think I was properly awed by the careful details of
Your creation
But perhaps I should have
Paid more attention
To the ways you made
Electricity
Because your spark is still keeping the lamps lit
In our hearts.

Once you drove me to the farm in your truck
And even though it was just the two of us
You let me sit in those funny little -girl sized seats in the back
But eventually I had to crawl forward to investigate
The emergency candy in the glove compartment.
I ate it
With grave seriousness
Then we sang along to radio songs
{Though neither of us knew the words so we both made up
baselines: bum-bum, bum-bum,bum-bum..}

I'll miss you throned under the gilded tree
With your Queen
Surrounded by mountains
Of gifts like
Father Christmas
But like Father Christmas
Omniscient you are ever-present and benevolent
And I believe in you.

Thank you for your presents,

by

Kate Croft

(granddaughter)

Betty, forever young...

5/2/46 - 10/30/02