Hi Lainnie, It’s Babbie… This week I re-read your last letter to me, the one of seven pages. I am again in awe of your ability to express yourself and your feelings. I kept this letter because of your heart felt expression of love and admiration for those you held dear. In that letter you told me how proud you were of your sons and how happy you were with how each turned out. I never think of you Lainnie without thinking of Mom as well, you two seemed as one in many aspects of your lives; always showing concern, always patient and kind with each other. I remember the lovely letter you sent to mom during her last weeks, telling her how much you loved her, and thanking her for loving you and staying by you through all your troubles. Mom loved that letter and shared it with me with such pride. Mom’s devotion to you and her never failing efforts to help you helped her as well. She always blamed some part of herself for your troubles and tried to release her pain in her resolve to bear with you anything that was yours to bear. One of the finest qualities of our mother was her amazing generosity. When I first found out that she donated her $25.00 a month to St. Jude’s work with ill children, and had done so for years, I was shocked. On top of helping you with your problems, that $25.00 was a lot of what was left each month. She never told anyone about giving this money and included with this generosity was the gift of another $25.00 to Michael, whenever she could. Lainnie, in this remembrance of you I most often think of you as someone very dignified, clean, ferociously brave, and steadfast in your devotion to our mother. Your love of education resulted in your children’s respect for you and your ability to endure, and I am sure the memory of those qualities will always remain a part of them. They had a mother who faced all of life’s challenges with regal resolve. I grieve that we were not as close as I wish we could have been but your illness forced a distance that was necessary. In closing let me tell you that I often wish, when hearing my phone ring, that I could once more pick it up and hear… Hi Babbie, its Lainnie!