A REFLECTIVE AND LOVING TRIBUTE - THE SUNDAY COMMENTARY

As you may have noticed I took a much needed break last week and neglected to post a notice concerning my absence, please forgive me. Today's commentary will be a slight variation from current events because today is an anniversary that brings loving reflection and as such my heart is not into politics, war and world affairs. I will return to those subjects tomorrow. Today though I am remembering my mother. We lost her one year ago today to Alzheimer's. If you have not experienced this terrible disease then please count your blessings. One who loses a loved one to this experiences the loss twice. First when they no longer have any memory of you and the second when they lose the battle to the disease. The first came Easter weekend of 2000 and the second August 6, last year. So in memorial to my mother today I share with you a tribute I posted to her when I returned from her funeral last year. Words can never express who she was and what she still means to all of us. That full expression is and always will continue to fill my thoughts and my heart.


THANK YOU MOM
From August 11, 2005

I returned from Rhode Island yesterday where I have been since last Friday. My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's several years ago and Saturday morning August 6th at 1 AM she finally lost her battle with this debilitating disease which took from us and from my mother a very vibrant and beautiful lady! My brother and my two sisters and my son were at her bed side with me when she momentarily opened her eyes as we told her she need not fight for us any longer. I write this post first as a tribute to my mother and second to share with you where my beliefs and conservatism came from. Many people believe that we discover our beliefs of this nature as we grow through maturity and face the daily grind of life. I beg to differ. Although my mother was very uninterested in politics, (she last voted for President Kennedy and then as she shared with me, only because he was, "good looking"), her values and beliefs were the foundations that she instilled within us which made each of us who we are today. My brother, a conservative and whom I admire more than any person alive for through this family crises when constraints beyond my control kept me from being there as I would have liked, Kevin displayed a strength and fortitude in heroic proportions that I'm not sure I could have mustered. Making all the right decisions in the best interest of my mother in spite of the sorrow. My two sisters that my brother and I never new as we grew up yet Norma, who like my mother is uninterested in politics still displays the same sense of values as I and Shirley who like me is a conservative and proud to be one. These values do run in the blood and are instilled in us from birth and because of my mother, who is now dancing with the angels, create a bond in our family that will last us throughout our lifetime. My mother was always a happy, loving and kind soul who had a smile or a hug or a funny remark that would make even a bad day good. She loved to dance and would always take anyone by the arm and give them a twirl and a smile which would solicit a smile in return. Even at the last when she momentarily opened her eyes after being un-responsive for so long, she bound us together in the love that she had for each of us and the values that she gave us. We then pass these wonderful values along as I have to my son and my brother and sisters have to their children. They in-turn pass them on to their children. So in all of us, her legacy, my mother will live on for many generations to come! Thank you Mom for all that you gave me and for being you! I love you and will miss you every day!


A grateful son, Ken Taylor

Eva Taylor June 6, 1924 - August 6, 2005