(In celebration of ten years of blogging here at LTG, each week for the next 52 51 50 49 48 weeks I will delve deep into the sewer archives of past posts to bring you a tidbit of blog history.  I had originally planned to call this series “The best of LTG”, but damn, there just wasn’t much “best” to be found.  And mediocre is too hard to spell.)

Four years ago I wrote about my mother’s death in a post called All you need is love.

She did not “go gentle into that goodnight”.  She loved life and fought to hold onto it as long as she could.  It was a painful and heartbreaking thing to witness her struggle, but I’m thankful I could be there with her to provide what little comfort I could give.

I miss her of course, but I don’t know that I still actively grieve her passing. But I cried yesterday as I re-read the posts about her death, her funeral, and the void she left in the lives of those who loved her.

Still, she lives on in the memory of her children and grandchildren.  Her life was not an easy one, but in the end her thoughts were only about the power of love.  She urged us to love and to be loved because that was all that really mattered.

I’m trying my best mom.

My mother and I in happier times.

Mother don’t worry, I killed the last snake that lived in the creek bed
Mother don’t worry, I’ve got some money I saved for the weekend
Mother remember being so stern with that girl who was with me
Mother remember the blink of an eye when I breathed through your body

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons are like birds flying upwards over the mountain