I wanted to post yesterday, but I didn’t. August is a really hard month and yesterday was rough for me. Maybe today has been a little harder and I’m unsure what the emotion for tomorrow brings. Yesterday, August 18th, marked one year since my mother in law passed away. During that time my blog readers supported me, prayed for us and were there every step of the way. That feeling of love and friendship will never be forgotten. For those of you that are newer to my blog reading you can look back through my August 2009 archive and reflect.
Reflecting is what I have done these past few days. I have laughed to myself a few times and laughed with others, retelling hilarious Adrienne stories. She was a one of a kind woman and loved by every single person she met. She was truly an angel here on earth. I don’t want people to forget her or how she shined through every situation, good or bad. Her Christian heart healed many and her love for the Lord lead many. She used funny words like ear bobs and step ins that drove her kids crazy but made the older generations burst into laughter. She raised the two funniest kids I know and how she survived it I will never know. She was well read and loved to share her daily devotions through her caringbridge site until she could no longer write. The local 2009 Woman of the Year was my mother in law. Like most deserved awards, they come after death. Not that it’s too late to recognize all the good in people, it merely lets them live on. We were so proud of her, but she knew that. She was a phenomenal woman.
Ole Miss football was missing its’ biggest cheerleader last year and I have no doubt that she led the New Orleans Saints to victory. Little did they know that their MVP that day was Adrienne Wamble, not Drew Brees. Christmas wasn’t the same without getting some funny gag gift like her dads’ old dentures or his back brace or an old meat cleaver or QVC item he ordered 15 years ago. “What in the world are we going to do with this crap?” we would say. But I get it now, and it’s funny. You never knew what to expect….ever. She was the best friend to everyone and has memories with all of them. I love to hear her friends’ stories because they can’t ever be told without the person having to stop to catch their breath from laughter. It can’t help but make you smile.
I think the hardest part, the thing that breaks my heart the most and the reason for my tears is that my sweet Hill will never know her, never hear her silly stories of ol’ uncle what’s his name with the hairy arms, never be spoiled by her or know how much she yearned for him to be in this world. One year ago yesterday, it was a Tuesday she passed away, both Jane Claire and I were 5 months pregnant. I was 20 weeks and Jane Claire a couple weeks ahead of me – we felt our babies move like never before. At the time we didn’t know if Hill was going to be a boy or girl; we were to find out in 2 days. We just knew Snooks was in there tickling their toes and spreading apart Hill’s legs so she could be the first to know if it was a boy or girl. She touched lives, even those that were unborn. I hope her legacy lives on through Hill, Madison and Addie and then through the children of their children. What a blessing to this world that would be.
Adrienne, Snooks, friend, mother, wife, Apostle; however you knew her…..remember to tell about her. It will undoubtedly bring a smile to your face. It does mine. I can always hear her very southern drawn dialect ring through my ears when someone tells me of something she’d said to them. I know my family in Texas loved to hear her talk. Her laugh was infectious and towards the end when she lost all of her hair due to chemo she would call it the color of bird poop because it didn’t really have a defined color. She had a shrine to Eli Manning in her bedroom and always gave gifts in the cutest tote bags. She could move a house, plow a garden or pull home a big rig with just the tools in the trunk of her car. Why she had so many tools back there I will never know. She had a nick name for everyone and had a collection of stuffed frogs. She loved shiny shimmery things and flamingos. She’d say something funny and usually after all the laughter subsided, she’d nonchalantly say “but anyway” as if to move on. She was a giver and teacher, whether it be in Latin or poker, she was a master. She adored her friends and it was obvious the feeling was mutual. When they got together it was just like a group of giggly teeny boppers. These same ladies have taken me in, treated me as if I was their own and love my son just as much as his Snooks does. We are so blessed. So humbled by the over flow of love and prayers that still continue for us to date. Even though it will be a year tomorrow we laid her to rest, she’s still alive in all of us and for that I am grateful.
