An Oldie

Circa 1972 or something...

A Beautiful Lady

Marlene Ann Haugland Mohr

Beautiful lady. Awesome wife. Loving mom. Wonderful school teacher. Good neighbor. Great friend. Lover of good jokes. Good cook. Fantastic baker. Avid reader of thick books. Pretty good seamstress. Better than average knitter. Fair tennis player. Good bike ride giver (I remember sitting in the basket behind her seat many times). Uncomplaining cancer sufferer. Overcomer.

Today would have been her 75th birthday. She's been gone for almost 30 years. The ache of missing her is keen. I think about what an amazing grandmother she would have been. I think about the many times I would have benefited from her advice. And the gaping chasm she left in our family when breast cancer claimed her life. There is still a lot of sorrow. It is a hard day. I miss her so very, very much.

Her hand-sewn orange jacket hangs in my basement closet. Her doll is in a zippered plastic bag on the shelf above that. Her Red Wing pottery is in my cupboard. Her china cream and sugar sets are on the kitchen window shelves. A handwritten note she left me once is in my keepsake box, along with the last birthday card she gave me. Pictures of her growing-up years are in the spare bedroom. These are things I cannot part with. Her remains lie in a small cemetery outside of Brooten, Minnesota. I trust her spirit rests with the Lord Jesus in heaven, where I will meet her again some day. It will be a grand reunion, I have no doubt.