A Letter to Mom in Heaven 2022

Dear Mom,

Thirteen years ago, you left our world for Heaven. Our lives were difficult. I say it often, and I will say it again, I wish that you were here to enjoy the lives that we have now. I can now afford to give you everything that you deserve. I wish that we could sit on the back porch and have coffee in the mornings. Yes, I drink coffee now. I hate that we never had a cup of coffee together.

I can only imagine how proud you would be of your grandsons. I can hear your voice in my head talking to your friends about how much you oldest grandson, Chance Storey, aka Brainy Bird, is like his grandfather. Brainy Bird was just five years old when we lost you. Now, he is an adult. He is a year and one month into his life as an adult, and it is definitely going well. I hear the happiness in his voice every time that we talk, and we talk often.

While Brainy Bird is like his grandfather in many ways, he is following in his grandmother’s footsteps, your footsteps, and pursuing a career in computers. He needed just one semester at college to become known for his exceptional programming skills. He is also double majoring in mathematics. I am not sure where he got his math skills from.

We had a good laugh the other day as he will likely be taking two advanced, 500-level math classes next semester. I asked if taking two math classes in a single semester was doable. This feels to me like an insane course load. He laughed, “Uhm, Mom that is what math majors do.” So, our family’s prodigy will be taking senior/graduate level courses as a college sophomore next year.

I wish you were here, I would take us to visit him in Columbia, South Carolina. You would love it there. I mean really love it. In addition to being an absolutely beautiful city, pimento cheese is prominent on menus in that part of the country. Every time we sit down at a restaurant in Columbia, I find myself again telling the boys how much their grandmother loved pimento cheese.

Little Chirp loves to call me out for repeating the same stories. I guess that my life is just not that exciting. I have to recycle the same stories again and again. I imagine if you were here, you would tell your friends how much Little Chirp reminds you of me. Every time that he makes me really mad; I think that his behavior is exactly as my own was at his age.

Little Chirp will not be out done by his big brother. He chose to take advanced courses in high school, including Pre-AP English, which is his most difficult subject. Little Chirp is independent and self-motivated. I laugh as I observe that he does everything around his house. He cooks, he does dishes, he wipes the countertops, and he folds the laundry. He does all of this, until his brother arrives for a visit. Then he can be found standing next to Brainy Bird in the kitchen, telling Brainy Bird how to cook; one can find Little Chirp sitting on the couch when it is time to do the dishes and Brainy Bird is home from college.

I took the day off from work today. I am about to take Potatoe for a walk, and then I am going to spend the morning doing research. This afternoon, I will spend time with some friends. Gone are the days when I cannot get out of bed on the anniversary of your death, your birthday, and Mother’s Day. Life is for the living, and I am living my best life. That is not to say that I do not miss you dearly.

I love you. I will always miss you.

Love,

Me