The Cross

Take a short walk with me
Through the 80s

the and 90s ....

the holidays....

the vacations....

....the fun, daily nights

...the special days

This morning our beloved, Ma Miles, went to meet Jesus. This is one of those joyfully sad days. Expected, given the morphine drip was started last Friday but still feeling a little lost. She has battled Alzheimer's for 10+ years. The last 8 years she been under the everyday care of our dear Aunt Lana....an angel on Earth that serves the Lord without even knowing it!!!...She took her home with her (back to Las Vegas) to care for her. For the last 30 years my aunt has taught at a special school for the mentally challenged....imagine teaching 18-20 year olds that think like 2 year olds. For about the last year we have all been awaiting the phone call that Ma has gone to meet our Maker. We even took a quick trip out in January 2010 to make sure Ma met Claire. My sisters and I were our Ma's world....we lived in the same town with her until 1992. There are so many things I would just love and sit and talk with her about.....now that I am a grown up and all.

please keep reading I promise this is not her obituary it is an incredible chill bumps, only God could do this story......

Our Ma worked hard and generally worked two or three different jobs at one time....jewelry store, wedding coordinator, dress shop, etc. She was very much a southern belle, always properly and beautifully "put together". She still lived in the 800 sq. ft. house they purchased when my dad was in the sixth grade.

One of the last things our grandmother purchased herself was a beautiful, very nice, diamond cross necklace...there is no telling how long she saved to purchase this necklace. She loved beautiful things! About 3 years before she moved to Las Vegas she lost this necklace!! Every time anyone would visit she would have us search the house high and low looking for the cross....imagine your whole house looking like that "one closet" that is not to be opened....although her home was always very well kept, every corner, closet, dresser was packed full. She even had my dad crawl under the house because she was convinced it fell through the walls! Then she started thinking someone must have stolen it....after years of searching...seriously years of looking for the cross we concluded she accidentally threw it away....she had a habit of wrapping things up in paper towels...so pretty easy to throw out.

My dad travels through her hometown regularly and stops by to get a car load from the house. We have very slowly been cleaning out her home for the past 8 years. My dad is a sentimental person so he has just been taking his time walking down memory lane though the stuff stored away at Ma's house. So a box that takes the normal person 5 minutes to go through takes him 5 hours, if not 5 days....but I love this about my father!

You have probably already guessed what happened.....Kathi was helping Dad go through a box and found The Cross.........Last night at around 5....Last night!!!!........the cross was found!!! We all KNEW that second she would pass away last night!

Today is my Aunt's birthday, some view this as a bad thing, but we view it as a gift, a final "thank you" for caring for me and loving me. Now she has left this beautiful cross she cherished for her daughter.

Ma is dancing is Heaven today, with her daughter, Ann Marie, she gave back to the Lord when she was only 9 days old, our Pa whom she let go of nearly 30 years ago, her parents and 11 of her 13 siblings!

I CAN ONLY IMAGINE!!!! THANK YOU FOR THE CROSS....the one Your Son died on and the one that brought a peace as we knew our Ma was taking your hand!!!