4th of July--

Matt with his dear Mom

This photo says it all~~ the Love a Son has for his Mother shines with such glorious beauty and yes, my dear Matt truly adored his Mom--we all loved her and the years we had with her passed all too quick.  

None of us knew what lay ahead on July 04th,1990~~~

the phone ringing in the dark hours of that day, a detective looking for Matt, my heart leaping with fear that something had happened to him.  Another call from Matt brought a nightmare to our family--a young man had broken into her home, ransacked the house, finally stepping on an Alarm Pad in her bathroom--and Aggie woke to face her final moments on this Earth. The man beat her terribly, and stabbed her six times.  As these words appear on my computer screen, my heart is back to that awful day--Grief surrounded us, engulfed us, we were robbed of a precious woman who loved her children deeply.

So much of that day seems to be like a fog--everyone kept moving, all her children grown adults who never dreamed they would face such heartbreak~~~we moved through a beautiful funeral service, so many Priests there to pay their deepest respects--Aggie was working at the age of 79, cooking for a group of Priests and she loved it!  

As the service ended, the lead Priest spoke words that have stayed with me all these years--he asked us to all rise~~ his voice quivering as he said "A great Lady is passing by us today-She is so worthy of our Respect!"

Yes the man who took Aggie from us is in prison for the rest of his life---we all struggled to find our way, it would have been so easy to slide to bitterness--but then we all recalled what Aggie would say "You have to Forgive this person" and we prayed hard, long, lonely prayers---but we found our way there.  If we had chosen to stay eaten up with anger--an even heavier price would have been paid and this family has suffered terribly~~a crime of violence does not leave your memory.

Each of her children dealt with the loss of their Mom---ups and downs. We all sat through a horrible court trial two years later-reliving a time we will never forget..

When I think of Aggie-the first thing I see is her loving Smile, I hear that glorious voice, laughing and living each moment to the fullest.  God gave me two amazing Gifts----I am blessed to have Aggie's son as my dear Husband, and then I was blessed with Aggie--she was so much more than a Mom-in-law!  We had a loving friendship and I learned so much about Faith, Prayer, Love, 

and being strong in the toughest of times.  

We seem to do better each year--just a little bit---and now we can sit together and share memories of Aggie--laughing with delight!   I know Aggie is smiling with heavenly Joy.  

Thank you God--Aggie was one of a kind.  

Martha