Sunday, June 8, 2008

It is with great sorrow in my heart that Monday, June 2, I lost my mom (Gracie’s Lao Lao). She has gone to a better place where there is no suffering and she has a brand new set of lungs. My mom has struggled for years with COPD. I wanted this page to be dedicated specifically to her because she waited for Gracie for 2 ½ years. She was the most incredible, influential person in my life. I have had incredible losses in my life but nothing compares to losing your mother. On the day she was buried, I buried a big part of me with her, but in turn she left a huge part of her with me. She waited for Gracie for a long time and asked about her often. Even as she was dying she watched FOX News and insisted I call my coordinator and ask her if Gracie would still be coming to be with us after the devastating earthquake in China. My mom and I had a gift from God, we got to talk about a lot of things and one of them was our visit to China to get Gracie. I told her I would be so very sad to get off the plane with Gracie and she would not be there. She told me she would be there and not only that she would be with us the entire time and climb the Great Wall with us with the brand new set of lungs God has given her. I know some of you may not understand the gift God gave me when he gave me my mother. I myself was adopted into the most loving arms of the most precious woman in the world. I also have the most incredible loving family a human could ask for. My brother and sister are so special to me and we could not have made it though this without the love and support of one another. I don’t want to forget my dad; he has been so strong through all of this and has been a rock for all of us. I know he feels a great loss, but has put our feelings before his own, just like my mom would have done. Gracie will just be crazy about him, he is fabulous!

I also want to thank my Aunt Chris, who on the day my mom (her best friend) passed said to me “ I will be there for you and Gracie when you get off the plane, I know I am not your mom, but I hope I will do.” She is the most incredible woman in the world, next to my mom. She has been a rock for my family for years and has definitely been there for us during this incredible sad time. I want her to know how much I love her and how precious she is to our family.

I thought of you with love today but that is nothing new, I thought about you yesterday and days before that too. I think of you in silence I often speak your name, all I have are memories and your picture in a frame. Your memory is my keepsake with which I'll never part God has you in His keeping I have you in my heart. ~unknown In loving memory of my mom, my hero, Vena Thompson 1940-2008