My best memories come from my childhood sitting on an old wooden swing on our back porch with my Mom. It's where my Mom taught me what to expect as I walk through life. It's where I learned about life and how to have the strength and tenacity to overcome the obstacles that would lie before me on this journey. It where I learned how to endure and persevere and keep going, even when I thought I couldn't. It's where I learned about my Mom and her life and who she was and who I was to become. It's where I learned about kindness and generosity and the teachings that would make me who I am today. It's where I learned about love and surviving heartache and hanging onto happiness in my darkest hours. And it's where I learned about God and nature and so much respect and love for both. Those memories of laying my head in her lap as she stroked my hair and taught me about life have stayed with me and will forever. For you see my Mom moved to Heaven 12 years ago and left me all those memories. My life truly changed without her in it. There is now an emptiness that is so profound that it takes my breath away at times. No one in my life will ever love me as she did. She loved me with all her heart.