Rita

16 years ago today my Mother died.  That is the word we use when the heart stops and breathing ceases.
But although her heart stopped beating and her spirit left the flesh and blood space that we knew as Rita Mary Agnes O'Donnell Fries, she continues to exist for me.  She isn't gone.  She lives on in all the journals she wrote. She lives on through my arms and hands as I stand at the kitchen counter and prepare "Apple Pan- Dowdy" or as lament about "what should I do with my hair?'  or as I enjoy the people and activities in my life or as I prepare, with joyful anticipation, for this or that next social get-together.   I know where I learned all these things.  I know that she remains with me in  immeasurable ways as I walk through my days on this earth.  I know when I fill up with love for the people in my life that she is the one who gave me this most marvelous gift. 
Thanks Mom, for loving me and showing me the way.