An Open Letter to Sam and Ken

Dear Sam and Ken,

Lark Montgomery told me that your mother died today and my world just got a little lonelier.

I wish I could express to you what a great friend your mother was to me and how grateful I was to know her.  She was smart and hardworking and so generous.  When she overheard my husband and I talking about the logistics of getting me home from DFW one day, she offered to pick me up.  She hardly even knew me but there she was when my plane landed.  When we got to her car she had graham crackers and a bottle of water for me.  I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, those graham crackers could not have tasted better!  She always thought of the details like that.

Your mother was so dear to me.  I only met her just five years ago.  In just five years she became a very important part of my life and a part of our family.  She listened to me fuss about my kids.  She helped me organize my cupboards and my time.  She checked in on my kids when we were out of town. She once let my husband have it because she saw me unloading groceries from my car while he and my boys were home.  “She should not be fetchen’ and carryin’ for you!”  She was ALWAYS on time and she was so patient with me because I am ALWAYS late.  She supported me in all my projects and activities and plans.   But then, she was always so darned self sufficient she rarely needed my help.  I was always happy if she would call on me for anything but I feel like I did very little for her in comparison to what she did for me.  I loved your mother.

My husband wants to add that in his 21 years of military service.  When it came to commanding respect and getting things done, he never knew a Command Sargent Major who could hold a candle to your mom.

Goodness! She loved you boys!  I've heard so much about each of you, I feel like I know you two better than I should!  If you wanted Susan to talk you just had to ask her how her boys were doing. 

Sam, Oh! how she adored you! There is a relationship a mother has with her firstborn that is different then any other child.  I heard that in her voice when she talked about you.  She knows you didn’t always have a perfect relationship but was so glad that neither of you ever gave up on the other.  She always said you butted heads because you both knew the right way things should be done and you were both stubborn as mules.  I don’t know you that well  but I’m just going to take her word for it.  

She loved to talk about your swim meet announcing and the sometimes exotic places that job would take you.  I think she felt some ownership in that part of your life because she described to me on many occasions, crazy, busy weekends traveling to your competitions when you were kids. She was proud of your real estate career too and worried herself sick about you, when the market turned awhile back. Your mother was so proud of you and what you had accomplished in your life.  She loved Shay too.  She always suspected that it was Shay who influenced you to continue to be patient with her.  She appreciated the way Shay softened you up a little.  She loved her grand-kitties and puppies too.  I heard reports about them many times.  Sam, your mom always talked about you with such pride and confidence, like she knew as long as you were walking the earth she would be taken care of, and looked after.  

Ken, I don’t think it is a secret that you were the apple of her eye.   A mother couldn’t be a whole lot closer to her boy than she was to you.  She told me about when you left for college.  Did you know she went home and cried and sucked her thumb for three days? She told me about when you joined the Marines.  She told me about when you were stationed in the Middle East, at an embassy I think.   You wrote her a special letter when you were there thanking her for the sacrifices she had made for you.  Did you know she’s been carrying that letter around in her purse all these years?  She once told me that she needed to remember to take it out of her purse before she died. She was afraid you would think she was pitiful if you saw how she carried it around with her.  It was a beautiful letter, she let me read it once.  Every mother should be blessed to receive a letter like that from her child. 

She told me about your last deployment. She told me about your promotions.  She told me about when you brought Kim home.   She loved Kim and was so thankful for the way Kim kept her updated on everything that was going on in your home where ever you were.  And Oh boy! She told me about your kids!  She loved those kids!  She loved reporting to me that Brandon was taller than her.  She loved telling me about Christopher, his grades and adventures.  She loved telling me about Leasha’s cheerleading and other activities.  Ken, you and your family made your mother proud beyond description.  She loved you so.

Your mother believed that when we die, just like when we are born, the people we love and who love us, are there waiting for us.  It makes me happy thinking about her greeting her dear mother and her sweet husband.  And it makes me smile to think of her giving instructions to everyone there and making sure heaven is dress right dress. 

I just wanted that you could not have been more loved.  

With all my love and a heavy heart,

Rachel Rodgers