Hi Rachel! Thank you for the kind words about mom. I hope you know she considers you her third daughter. It must have been a real struggle for your mom after the loss of your dad. What an amazing woman she is. And she raised such a wonderfully kind daughter who’s pretty amazing herself. 🙂

The first word that popped into my head regarding my mom was ‘strength.’ Now, being an adult, I have the advantage of 20/20 hindsight. My mother was a young and unexpected widow. At the time, of course, I could only view that experience in life threw my eyes having ‘lost my daddy’ as if I was the only suffering through this traumatic event. I’ll never know what she endured emotionally or financially because of my father’s untimely death. I can imagine what it was like because I now am a wife and mother, but to truly know what it was like, I cannot. Suffice it say that when I reflect on this circumstance in life it still, at times, freshens my grief for my daddy and all that I did not have in a father/daughter relationship because he was taken Heavenward at such a young age. However, I reflect in amazement at how my mom ‘made it’ and is still with me today. I hope that I have a small portion of her strength of character and perseverance.