P.S. I Love You, Always - An Ode To Maman

Today's listening is inspired by pure love in all its form, because that's what my Maman made sure to raise us on. Love. Love to last a million life times. So, the song choice for today is from Peter Gabriel and it's called "The Book of Love". It was a song my mom made sure that I would hear at her passing so I wouldn't lose my way through the heartbreak.

Maman, maman, maman... Maman, Mama Cee, was a force. She was a summer baby born in the height of June on the Summer Solstice and, because of that, she was warmth. Fiery, passionate and lit from within -- Maman could walk into any space and warm it up with just her smile. 

Maman passed away on Feb. 9, 2024 and took with her a piece of many souls. While she crossed into the Beyond World, Maman held the hands of her children and was surrounded by all her beloved ones. She was at peace and it was beautiful to behold. 

If I had a choice, I would list all my favorite things about Maman, but we do not have enough time or enough web space for that. She was effortlessly joy and had a spirit that radiated happiness no matter the situation and I wish I could have her for even one more day of that kind of wondrous support. 

I miss her. I miss my Maman. I will miss Maman always.

Mama became Maman when I was 14 and began learning French. She used to get the biggest kick out of helping me do flash cards for new vocabulary, because as a product of the 1960s American education system, she never learned phonetics. Sounding out a word was foreign to her, because she knew her vowels and consonants but making that make sense in another language wasn't going to happen. 

Still, she would regularly quiz me and help me study, because she knew that learning French would open up a million doors. So Mama became Maman and stayed Maman until her last breath. 

When I meet her in a few decades' time in the Beyond World, I will greet her with a shout of "Maman", because she loved how I would default to that without meaning to because the word was ours. No one else called her Maman.

She was something special to everyone -- whether she was a sister, an aunt, a cousin, a friend, an in-law. 

Without a doubt, Maman was one of the few special spirits on this planet that left a beautiful mark on all the people she met. 

It's a heavy, weird, and sad thing to become a Motherless Woman at just 30. However, because Maman was so marvelous, I still feel her here even as I type this. She was the one who taught me everything I know, because we lost Daddy nearly 20 years ago. 

Overnight and amidst her own heartbreak, Maman took on the role of parenting three children as both mother and father and all the in betweens. And she did it without even missing a beat. I cannot elevate her enough in the eyes of others since so few could do what she did and do it half as well.

She never missed anything. She baked countless extra credit projects to help me through my high school science courses including a pink fondant-covered pig cake so I would pass an anatomy course without having to actually slice and dice a real pig fetus. My stomach could never so Maman showed up ready and willing. Always. 

If there's anything else I wish people could know about Maman is that she never let anything slow her down. She bent over backwards for everyone she met no matter what they needed. She fed countless children, because she knew they weren't getting fed at home. She helped clothe even more, because donation and charity were so very important to her.

Maman grew up with less than most, but always made sure to give and give with a smile on her face. 

She was special. So very, very special.

The world is a little less bright today without Maman. It breaks my heart to think of all the people that could use her laugh and a good Maman hug, but won't receive one.

Her legacy is immense. 

In all she touched, in all she loved, in all that she inspired -- Maman will live on forever. 

She joined my father just 18 years and one week later to the day so while my heart is a little sad, it is a joyous occasion to know she is back with the love of her life. 

She's reunited with her own mother whom she missed dearly. She's reunited with all of her friends that passed before her from various illnesses. 

Maman... You left us all too soon, but I am so very relieved that you get to rest so peacefully now. 

Whenever I feel a breeze, whenever I dance off beat, whenever I hum off key -- it will be Maman guiding me, because Maman was all the breezes and she swore she had no rhythm nor that she could sing. 

That was just Maman being silly, because she embodied all things rhythm and she sang like a rowdy bird.