Farewell My Brave and Beautiful Chickadee...

It is with a heavy heart that I have to say goodbye to my best friend and grandmother, Deedee.

She was my hero. She never met a stranger. She was the most giving person I have ever known. She never held a grudge, and smiled through even the toughest times.

Born into a family of 18 children, Deedee was humble and strong. She would give you her last slice of bread and somehow make you feel good about it.

I will miss her sun-dappled hands, and her love for getting them dirty. I will miss driving with her in the country, and doting on every tree. I will miss everything about my little cotton-haired beauty...my Chickadee.

I was one of very few, fortunate to see the young girl behind her cloak of "The Strong Woman." If I could have picked her up, and cradled her in my arms, I would have. She made each one of her children and grandchildren feel special and unique. She taught us to find solace in the woods, and in hard work, and that a house is a house until you fill it with love, and let mother nature do the rest.

I am so very proud of my grandmother. The world is a different place for me now, but I will focus on the gift that I had of being connected to her the way I have been. I was lucky enough, in later years, to hold her hand, and give back to her a fraction of what she gave to me. I was more fortunate, still, that I had a chance to tell her I loved her again and again, and in the end, that she was my hero.

She is my star flower, my wintergreen berry, my lady slipper...

...She is my Princess in the Pines.