JoAnne, or Jody, would have been 90 today. Ninety years old – wow!!! She’s celebrating in Heaven with so many people who love her – I wish I could be with her today drinking champagne and eating Godiva chocolates (she liked dark chocolate and I like milk chocolate, so it all worked out). I remember her 80th birthday like it was yesterday – we partied for days. Birthdays lasted much much longer than a day for Mom – birthday and Valentine’s Day back-to-back! Poor daddy!!! Actually she celebrated all month because my grandmother, her mom Tressa, celebrated her birthday on February 4th – so it was a birthday month in our house. Always flowers around, birthday cards everywhere and champagne flowing. That was my mom – ONE BIG FUN PARTY!!! Gifts, surprises…. oh my sweet daddy didn’t mind one bit. He loved spoiling his “Jody” – praise God they NEVER spent one birthday apart during their 64+ years together. Yes, God is good even when life is heartbreaking – life lesson 1,234,876.

Mom was pink and hearts – one friend’s nickname for her was “Pink Cloud” and she wore pink well. She even smelled pink, you know? My poor big brother had a pink room as a baby because she was so sure she was having a girl and well, she loved pink! Yes I love pink too – of course. She loved hearts as much as she did the color pink. Don’t even get me started about her fixation on her birthstone – the Amethyst. She had every piece of jewelry possible in amethyst as well as geodes with raw stones spilling out the center. Mom was allllll GIRL!

Mom left us suddenly one night and I had so much to still say to her and do with her. I had plans for her 85th and 90th birthday parties already rolling around in my head. But it wasn’t to be – she needed to be with her mom and she desperately wanted a new body and good health back more than anything. The last 9 months of her life were not what she wanted – not her style and certainly not what she had imagined. She had big plans to spend time with my precious Aunt Mary Lyle enjoying “retirement” since she had worked at Balliet’s until she just could no longer keep up early in 2009. She had plans but her soul and her tired body were ready to go.

Happy 90th Mom! We all celebrate and honor you today. Our memories are vivid and are comforting. You were our Pink Cloud and our Valentine … pink girl. Enjoy your day – I know daddy has something up his sleeve to surprise you and I bet you have either Gardenias, Star Gazer Lilies or pink roses surrounding you in Heaven.

We love you – but you know that since we talk every single day.