I want to be like HER

A friend passed this week. Tuesday, October 11, around 8 a.m.

She was 69 but didn't look a day older than 50.
She was absolutely beautiful. She resembled Barbara Streisand, but she was prettier.
She was amazingly talented.
She was smart.
She was confident.
She was particular.
She was kind.
She was overwhelming in every good way.
She was, by all accounts, a tremendous mother.

I met her when I was about 15 years old. She was the mother of two of my friends. At that time they were transplants from Louisiana and were just a "tad" different than all of the other boys here in Beaufort. I was instantly interested in knowing more about them. What happened over the course of high school was something I didn't expect. I fell head over heels in love with the entire family. Mom, dad, brothers, dogs and their different way of life.

I felt welcome in their home. I felt special in their home because they were special. They all have an energy that zips around you and bounces off of you and just makes you smile.

Back to "her". She didn't care where you came from, but  instead cared about where you were going and it was clear that she would offer advice if you asked for it...but you'd better be ready for it because it was going to be real no matter what.

As time passed and years separated me from this family, I thought about them many times, kept in touch, invited them to my wedding, stopped by to say hello every chance I could through college, home visiting my parents and eventually with my infant son. My how she ate him up the first time she saw him. She was itching for her own...and she eventually got two of them, by the way, two beautiful toe headed gems who look so much like her.

My adoration of this woman has likely never been announced before now. I did tell her, the last time we spoke (not realizing it would be the last time) a few months ago, that she did an incredible job raising her sons and how amazing I thought they were after all these years. I meant every word.

Any woman who could turn out gentlemen like her sons - honest, true, bright and gifted - well, she should be envied. I always felt a little odd about how much I adored them all and wondered if they had any idea. Guess that doesn't matter.

One of the last things she told me before she became ill  was that she knew I'd end up being the director of my boys - and that she too was always the director. She said that while it was sometimes hard, everyone would appreciate me for it someday. I didn't realize what those words would mean to me until today...until I saw her boys, now full grown men, with fresh tears, tight jaws and aching hearts. How they loved their mother. How they honored her today.

My true prayer is that I will march to the beat of my own drum, just like she did, that I will risk being different to be successful in all the ways that matter, just like she did.

I am grateful for knowing  her. I will miss seeing her. I will miss being slightly intimidated by her.

Thank you, Lord, for people who affect us in these ways and may you protect her and cherish her forever. Please send your angels to guide her husband and her sons through this pain and pick them up when they fall down. They no longer have their mother to tell them what to do or which way to go and they may need a little extra steering now and then. But of course, you know that.