Yeseterday would’ve been VirgoMom’s 71st birthday. I like to think she’s swingin’ from the chandeliers up in heaven, so I try not to be too sad, but I sure would like to talk to her again. If you have a spare moment today, look up and wave for me. Here she is at age 25 or so:

She was a tough broad. Her dad died when she was 4, leaving her mom with 2 kids to raise and very little money. Then her mom turned out to be schizophrenic, so Mom was mostly raised by her older sister and her grandparents. She spent summers on their farm in Illinois, bored out of her mind and thinking, “As soon as I’m old enough, I’m getting the hell outta here!” And boy, did she. She joined the Foreign Service and worked as a secretary at the American Embassy in Paris. In the embassy cafeteria one day, she spotted my Dad with his fellow embassy guard buddies and said “I’ll take that one.” And voilà, the rest, as they say, is history.

And here’s a song for Mom — The version I know is by Dolly Parton; I don’t know if she wrote it or not. But I know Mom would like it.

I am ready
Oh, my children
When Jesus knocks at my door
I’ll be there come morning
Don’t weep for me
I’ll be with my Lord
There’s my Bible on the table
Read it to me once more
I can hear God’s heavenly angels
Singing me on through heavens door

Hallelujah Lord
I am ready
No more sorrow
Hallelujah, yes
I am ready, I am ready
I am ready to go

Oh, hosanna
Take my hand now
Lead me to the promised land now
I am ready, I am ready
Hallelujah, I am ready to go
Oh, hosanna
I am ready to go
I can hear God’s heavenly angels
Singing me on through heavens door
Singing me on through heavens door
And I am ready