April 05, 2005

Alone... Mom getting her shot at the Petrified Forest National Monument Holbrook Arizona 1986

And so it is... You are 73 today. Aged prematurely by disease and hard living. My heart goes out to you and I wish that I could make things easier.

In my minds eye I see you as you appear in this photo. Alone, resolute, and somewhat defiant. You are standing there on a hill that you had to walk quite a ways to get to at a time yes when you could walk but it wasn't that easy for you. You did it any way, so you could get your shot. Just as you did things your way for a variety of reasons some known only to God at this point. Weather it was waiting so long to evacuate your home in Cuba so that as the jeep went down the road you could hear Castro's army blowing up bridges in your wake... To staying in your apartment in Bellflower beyond your ability to care for yourself...You insisted on doing things your way...I look back and shake my head and wonder if things could have been different and yet I know that a combatant spirit is just as necessary in the Kingdom of God as a phlegmatic one...Maybe even more so.

Happy Birthday Mom...