01/03/2026
This is the woman who took me to my first auction at the age of 10. She’s the reason I’m here on this earth and the one who inspired my love of vintage. Heartbreak doesn’t even begin to describe it. I’ve been putting off sharing this for nearly a month because it doesn’t even seem real. I cannot even say the words and typing them is equally painful. I could write endlessly about my beautiful, strong, kind, funny, crazy mom. I wish I was as strong as she was; she handled many tough losses and even delivered eulogies at some of the funerals of close family and friends. I would be a puddle on the floor. I strive to be as kind as she was. If someone was in need and she could help, she did. No one was a stranger and she befriended someone just about everywhere she went. She liked to make people laugh or crack a smile. If you were sad, she’d find a way to make you laugh to cheer you up. And she was the good kind of crazy. Plenty of stories there...just know that she was a tough mama bear that didn’t put up with anything when it came to people messing with her kids or family. She was a hard worker too! Sacrificing her time and energy for us, so we had what we wanted and needed. I’ll never be as good of a cook as she was, but I hope I can come close to how wonderful she was in every other way.
I am so thankful that we spent the whole day together the day before she passed, doing something we both love. We rode over to Mississippi with her sister, Darlene. We were organizing an estate sale and she cooked for everyone, another thing she loved to do. That makes her passing that much harder because it was so unexpected. I know that no matter how things happened, it would be hard though. There’s no “perfect” way for these things to go. I’ve thought about this moment since I was probably 5 years old. But no amount of knowing the inevitable makes it any easier.
She was a true angel on earth and nothing could ever even begin to fill the void left by her passing. I love you, mom.
“If you have love in your heart, let it show while you can.”