Happy Birthday Mama
I have to tell you about someone special that was born sixty seven years ago this very day.

There was a family in an Acadian style house that lived on a winding road called the White Lighting, in northern Louisiana, just outside Homer and Arcadia. About the only thing either of these towns were ever really known for at those times were that Homer was a really big rival football team against neighboring Hainesville and the legendary Bonnie and Clyde were gunned down at Arcadia.

But more importantly than that, a family lived there that was filled with love and pride.

The father, a short in stature man, got up when it was still dark and went out to tend the cows and hogs before going off to work in the oil fields, and his wife, who stood a good head taller than him, though was gentle in voice, always had his breakfast ready as with all meals...then readied their children for school. There would eventually be a total of six children in this family, but when this special person was born, there were only two girls and a boy already born. As a matter of fact, this special person wasn't even due to be born for two more months, but because of the times and the fact that the wife had come down with a case of German measles...labor had come early, so the father rushed to get the doctor, but before he could return, my Mama had been born at home in my grandparents' bed...with the German measles. She and my grandmother both almost died. Because of strong wills and a firm belief that God has other plans for her...they both made it, however. My grandparents went on, by the way, to have two more sons later.

She grew stronger, and was very close to every member of her family. I can honestly say, I never saw her play favorites with any member as I was growing up, unless, perhaps it would be her youngest brother, who was only three years older than myself and was more like a son to her than a brother. She was in high school when he was born and they adored each other.

My mother's name was Faye, but her Daddy gave her the nickname "Tootsie", which was adopted by all the family, and remains to this day whenever we are around. She was close to both her parents and couldn't go very long without seeing them, even when we lived in a different state than they did. I can only imagine how much the phone bills were, but to their credit, my parents both adored my grandparents and so, we spent a great deal of time with them.

She and one of my uncles were probably closest in age and so therefore played together the most as children. I hear the stories of them running all over my grandparents' place as children, hooking up wagons to goats, and in short, enjoying childhood.

She was brought up in the Methodist church by my grandmother, and never lost her faith. There were times when I am sure it was tested, but she never lost it. Her lessons to me always included God, but were more of the Golden Rule and that there were good and bad in all mankind. She still tries to look for the good in all people and gives the benefit of the doubt. Make no mistake, however, she is a woman to be reckoned with...you screw her over, and she has the memory of a thousand elephants and you won't get the chance to make the same mistake twice.

In high school, she was voted "Best Athlete" for her Junior and Senior year. She loved sports and was a guard in basketball for Homer. She was sad on her graduation day, however, because her father was unable to attend her graduation.

She wanted to be a nurse but knew how much it would cost to go to school for that, so opted to attend business school in Shreveport instead. It was while she was living there that she met my father.

Let me tell you what first attracted my father to my mother. She is about 5'9", and the first time he saw her, he said "she had on "short-shorts" (what my generation called hotpants and what is now called Daisy Dukes)He said she had this long black flowing hair, and dark flashing eyes that just penetrated you, and a smile that could light up the sky...and legs that went all the way up to heaven"... Yeah, my father had a way with words, but he knew what he liked and he liked that she was a lady. He almost never got her to go out with him, as a matter of fact, he more or less had to trick her into going out with him by using a four year old little boy. It worked. He guilted her into it. That was in July of 1958. He was living in Hobbs, New Mexico and she was living in Shreveport. He was so taken with her that he would get off work every Friday, drive from New Mexico to Shreveport, Louisiana and go out with her, then get up Sunday morning and drive back to New Mexico and go to work Monday morning. He finally told her in August she was going to have to marry him or kill him. They married September 15, 1958. He nearly fell over in a dead faint when it came time to sign the marriage license and found out she was only 19...he was 31. When he exclaimed his surprise, she calmly told him, "Well, I knew how old you were." and she signed the papers.

My mother became a partner to my father in every sense of the word. They worked together, he taught her to hunt and fish and they spent many evenings going out dancing or going out dining together. They truly enjoyed one another's company.

Even when I came along, they included me in everything that they did. We were a family unit.

Several years after losing my father in 1985, she remarried to an angel of a man, that had lost his hearing in an automobile accident. He told me once that one of the first things that had drawn him to her was that she went out of her way to include him into day to day conversations that people were having all around him without even giving it a second thought...as though it were so natural of a thing to do. Well...of course it was. They had many beautiful years together until he passed away in 2002.

My mother has always been a champion of rights. When school rules needed to be changed. (Like when it was forbidden for little girls to wear pants to school and temperatures would drop into the teens...and some of us were allergic to tights) my mother was the one that went to the school board and fought to get it changed. When teachers crossed over bounds...she went the distance to get it fixed and reversed. Whenever anyone wronged someone, she fought against injustice.

She remained (and still does) a lady, however, and sticks by the addage..."If you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything at all". (She is silent about a few people.)

She has a head for business. She always did the books for my father's business and even ran it when he decided he wanted to retire. He eventually talked her into selling it. She bought her own business, a company that does oil and gas reports for several oil field businesses..."just to keep her hand in it and to have something". And she helped my step-father with his business when he kept begging her to come to his business and help out. She is also active with all of the organizations that she enjoys working with.

Even with all of that, she still manages to find the time to go out of her way to help. She was a Candy Striper when I was little, working with Developmentally Challenged Children...and involved in a sorority that worked with Cystic Fibrosis. She was always active with the PTA with me and with my daughter. She is currently active with the Women of the Moose which helps Moosehart and Moosehaven, she volunteers with a Hospice, she is a Pinklady at the hospital, and is active with Easternstar. This doesn't even touch how many of her friends she drops everything to go and help at the drop of a hat. And there are not enough words on all the computers of the world to list how much she does for her family.

My mama is a close to a saint as I can imagine a person can be. She is also my closest friend. The person I admire most in the world, and someone that I love so very, very much...

Happy Birthday, Mama.

I love you!-Denise