Remembering Mother on her Birthday

l-r Virginia and Pauline Church

Remembering Mother, who was born 100 years ago today in Moorhead, Mississippi. Pauline Church Harrington, born October 13, 1919, died August 27, 2009. An incredible human being. A force of nature. She had many gifts. Her love of books and reading was one of them. She could spin a tale out of thin air and loved a good story. Queen of the Day Trip and Color commentary on life. Fantastic cook. In her 70s, she rode in the back of a pickup truck, over land, from Louisiana to Alaska, with her baby sister, Belle. She outlived six siblings, carried five pregnancies to full term, married two men, buried both of them. It's true, her life was detailed by hardship and suffering, but she was a survivor. On life, she told me, "All I knew was my family, especially my brothers and sisters. I was like a mother to the younger ones. We almost starved one winter. It defined the ones who lived together after Daddy died."  On death, she told me, "It's nothing. Just the end. Everything ends. Think of me as  sleeping."

Sleep well, Mother.