This is a picture of my mother, Janie May lawrence Cooper and me on the front porch.   Today would have been her birthday.  She was a remarkable person in her own right;  a remarkable mother.   She was dear to me and taught me her style of mothering.   She loved her grandchildren and made each of them feel special.

I was so lucky to have her for so many years.   Christ looked down from the cross and saw his mother.  He said, "Woman, behold thy son" and entrusted her to other disciples.

When I think of my mother, I think of her clapping her hands, in the thick of my friends, with her head back laughing.  I like to think of her in this way!  It still makes me happy.   And then her cooking ---yum, no one could cook like my mother!