So, let’s get the rough part out of the way first. My Mom lived a long life – which also meant she lived through some really great things and some really awful things. Top of that list of awful things would be outliving two of her three children and her brother.

A few months ago, while I was visiting her, she looked at the big, framed picture of my brother, sister and I that she kept in her sightline, and as she would often do for the last year or so, she would say all of our names and try and remember all of our birthdays. Most of the time she got them on the first try and sometimes would need a hint. When she was done, she looked at me and said, “Julie and David are both gone, right?” And after I reminded her that they were in fact gone. We sat in silence for a moment and I took a small bit of comfort knowing that sometimes she forgot because she deserved some relief, however brief, from that pain.

She turned to her Lutheran faith to survive those losses, and she also leaned on... Read more many of you in this room as well. I want to assure you that whatever love and kindness you gave to her made a difference and she kept you close in her heart and her prayers.

I was blessed to be part a family that laughed – a lot! She believed that a day without laughter was a day wasted – and she did not waste many days! She also felt deeply that family was everything. To her, family included families by blood, families by marriage and families by choice. She was a bonus mom to many of my friends throughout my life!

My sister and I worked for the City of Auburn – me in the mayor’s office and my sister in the Parks Department. Our Mom would often show up in our offices and surprise us with a card or visit and always a laugh! In the mayor’s office she was nicknamed “HinMom” and I understand she was infamous over in the Park’s buildings too! Whether you knew it or not you had been adopted into her heart.

When my Dad was still with us, I would often get a phone call at my desk and when I picked up, she would just yell, “Your dad and I are driving by city hall right now!” and then she would just hang up. I know she was belly laughing every single time she did it!

And speaking of cards, I know many of you received some of her signature mailings. You never had to guess who it was from when you opened your mailbox because she did not believe any envelope should be left un-bedazzled! It would be covered with stickers, funny things she cut from a magazine taped all over and if you looked close at the return address area, she likely wrote something silly instead of her name. When she sent things to me at city hall she always wrote “Disgruntled Citizen.”

And that was just beginning. Open up that envelope and you might find a funny note or card and a collection of inserts - quotes she liked, photos or funny comics to give you a smile – I believe she was sending analog memes long before these kids were doing it on the internet!

And if you were really lucky – you would get an original poem! She wrote hundreds of them – I can’t even tell you when she began writing them, but she loved doing it. She stopped writing them a few years ago, but she was still rhyming until the end. She would give herself a laugh whenever she would accidently make rhyme when we were chatting. “I just can’t help myself!” she would say.

My mom had a flair for the dramatic – as evidenced by her passing on New Year’s Day. As I began working with the Price Helton funeral home where she had her prearrangements, I received a call from the funeral home letting me know that my Mom had a left my sister and I each an envelope that they were to give to us after her passing.

In the envelope was a bedazzled poem titled “My Final Surprise for Dana & Julie” and I would like to end by sharing it with you:

Well girls, I've managed to outdo even myself this time
It seems that I've written you two a posthumous rhyme
Now please don't think what I've done is crazy or absurd
But you know me ~ I just have to get in that last word
Dana and Julie, you're so blest that you have each other
My greatest joy in life, of course, was being your mother
Don't grieve for too long, girls, because you've got to know
That I'm with God in heaven with everyone that I loved so
The sweetest sound to my ears was your hearty laughter
Please continue sending it my way in the great hereafter
Oh, my darling daughters ~ thanks for being so good to me
I know I'll live on forever in your hearts and your memory
Remember that list of 'Dad-isms' that I made for us all?
Will you make a list of 'Mom-ism's' that you both recall?
It'll be fun & cathartic and therapeutic for both of you
That's my final request that I'll ever ask you guys to do
I felt compelled to do this because I'm not short sighted
My purpose here was to leave you surprised and delighted
"Always leave them laughing" is an adage I firmly believe
Remember me with love & joy now that I've taken my leave
For the time being I will bid both of you a loving good-bye
Oh, for Pete's sake - now I've gone and made myself cry
Life is for the living and you both have plenty of that to do
Secure in knowing that God & your Mom are watching over you
I'm pondering what my last pearls of wisdom to you should be
They're the ones I uttered the most: "DRIVE CAREFULLY"

THE END (tee hee) Read less

So, let’s get the rough part out of the way first. My Mom lived a long life – which also meant she lived through some really great things and some really awful things. Top of that list of awful things would be outliving two of her three children and her brother.

A few months ago, while I was visiting her, she looked at the big, framed picture of my brother, sister and I that she kept in her sightline, and as she would often do for the last year or so, she would say all of our names and try and... Read more remember all of our birthdays. Most of the time she got them on the first try and sometimes would need a hint. When she was done, she looked at me and said, “Julie and David are both gone, right?” And after I reminded her that they were in fact gone. We sat in silence for a moment and I took a small bit of comfort knowing that sometimes she forgot because she deserved some relief, however brief, from that pain.

She turned to her Lutheran faith to survive those losses, and she also leaned on many of you in this room as well. I want to assure you that whatever love and kindness you gave to her made a difference and she kept you close in her heart and her prayers.

I was blessed to be part a family that laughed – a lot! She believed that a day without laughter was a day wasted – and she did not waste many days! She also felt deeply that family was everything. To her, family included families by blood, families by marriage and families by choice. She was a bonus mom to many of my friends throughout my life!

My sister and I worked for the City of Auburn – me in the mayor’s office and my sister in the Parks Department. Our Mom would often show up in our offices and surprise us with a card or visit and always a laugh! In the mayor’s office she was nicknamed “HinMom” and I understand she was infamous over in the Park’s buildings too! Whether you knew it or not you had been adopted into her heart.

When my Dad was still with us, I would often get a phone call at my desk and when I picked up, she would just yell, “Your dad and I are driving by city hall right now!” and then she would just hang up. I know she was belly laughing every single time she did it!

And speaking of cards, I know many of you received some of her signature mailings. You never had to guess who it was from when you opened your mailbox because she did not believe any envelope should be left un-bedazzled! It would be covered with stickers, funny things she cut from a magazine taped all over and if you looked close at the return address area, she likely wrote something silly instead of her name. When she sent things to me at city hall she always wrote “Disgruntled Citizen.”

And that was just beginning. Open up that envelope and you might find a funny note or card and a collection of inserts - quotes she liked, photos or funny comics to give you a smile – I believe she was sending analog memes long before these kids were doing it on the internet!

And if you were really lucky – you would get an original poem! She wrote hundreds of them – I can’t even tell you when she began writing them, but she loved doing it. She stopped writing them a few years ago, but she was still rhyming until the end. She would give herself a laugh whenever she would accidently make rhyme when we were chatting. “I just can’t help myself!” she would say.

My mom had a flair for the dramatic – as evidenced by her passing on New Year’s Day. As I began working with the Price Helton funeral home where she had her prearrangements, I received a call from the funeral home letting me know that my Mom had a left my sister and I each an envelope that they were to give to us after her passing.

In the envelope was a bedazzled poem titled “My Final Surprise for Dana & Julie” and I would like to end by sharing it with you:

Well girls, I've managed to outdo even myself this time
It seems that I've written you two a posthumous rhyme
Now please don't think what I've done is crazy or absurd
But you know me ~ I just have to get in that last word
Dana and Julie, you're so blest that you have each other
My greatest joy in life, of course, was being your mother
Don't grieve for too long, girls, because you've got to know
That I'm with God in heaven with everyone that I loved so
The sweetest sound to my ears was your hearty laughter
Please continue sending it my way in the great hereafter
Oh, my darling daughters ~ thanks for being so good to me
I know I'll live on forever in your hearts and your memory
Remember that list of 'Dad-isms' that I made for us all?
Will you make a list of 'Mom-ism's' that you both recall?
It'll be fun & cathartic and therapeutic for both of you
That's my final request that I'll ever ask you guys to do
I felt compelled to do this because I'm not short sighted
My purpose here was to leave you surprised and delighted
"Always leave them laughing" is an adage I firmly believe
Remember me with love & joy now that I've taken my leave
For the time being I will bid both of you a loving good-bye
Oh, for Pete's sake - now I've gone and made myself cry
Life is for the living and you both have plenty of that to do
Secure in knowing that God & your Mom are watching over you
I'm pondering what my last pearls of wisdom to you should be
They're the ones I uttered the most: "DRIVE CAREFULLY"

THE END (tee hee) Read less