May 31 My Mom's Birthday

I thank you Momma, daily for teaching me to have faith and courage to do and be anything in the face of adversity. I thank her for teaching me that my children are undeniably my greatest gift. But mostly, I thank her for teaching me to never take sh*t from anyone. I love you Momma

Mom came to live with us in Austin 4 months before she passed away. I spent as much time as possible documenting her life story and she enjoyed every minute of it even though when I would show up with my questions she would always say '¡Que Muchacha!" She really loved it because she was a story teller. She remembered dates and events better than anyone have every met.  After she passed away I realized there were so many more questions. This is an unfinished version of my mother's story. I learned after she passed away that Billy the Kid had in fact taught her Uncle Hilario to speak and write in English. Ha! Minor outlaw detail. I wish I had thought to do this with my father too. Anyway, I worked hard to document the information that would not be available when Momma passed away. My mom and dad had had grandchildren and great-grandchildren that are not YET featured in this slide show that they loved dearly..... I will get around to it someday and hope that all of you will help me retrieve those memories.

♥

I posted this slide show on Facebook and realized I should have posted it here to preserve the heartfelt responses from some of those who loved her most.

Camille Said:

I can still smell her cooking, line dried laundry, moth balls, clean bathroom, night cream, sopapillas/tortillas and the smell of shag carpet meets furniture laquer from my favorite big blue van, cuz it meant we were going to the zoo!! right Adriane Ethridge? I mean Adrennnn!

Derek Said:

If Grandma could've lived a while longer, I think she really would've embraced and enjoyed the social conveniences of the modern age, sitting in her kitchen with her "lappatop" computer obsessively playing solitaire and gossiping on Facebook...however, don't friend her if your not prepared for retaliation for a comment you made she didn't agree with. She would've constantly gone over her data usage on her iphone due to hours upon hours a day texting and talking and facetiming with her friends. Missing you in the 21st century Mama Luke! Happy birthday!!

Adriane said:

I'm so glad that you did this... it's like my whole side of mom's family.. I can only hope that I can keep that far along to show Dylan... how neat!!!!!! hopefully it will pass down.....