Grandma Bird's 100th B-Day Anniversary

Dear Mom,
Boy a hundred years old, wow. As I sit and ponder I think about how hard the last four months have been for me since I laid my sweetheart to rest. I never truly thought it would be as hard as it has been. Nor did I realize how the little things we do over a lifetime with our spouse binds us together emotionally, spiritually and physically. It is as though we become one in many ways. The hard days, the funny things we do and say. the quiet times we just sit in the same room. The little jig of a dance around the kitchen, the burst of a song at an old familiar song on the radio, or the beautiful memories of just sitting and enjoying Dean playing the harmonica for me. There is a longing and a sadness of being unable to touch, to hear his voice and to share thoughts and feel his strength.
Or a million other memories, the struggles and the desires we had for each other, the worries and the joys all are a daily part we don't recognize how it makes us grow together and how much we miss it when it isn't there. I have looked around me and understand how Dean and I truly became one in the course of a lifetime. It happens one day, one sacrifice, one challenge at a time. I know and love the companionship of yesterday and look forward to the reunion of tomorrow that isn't so very far away.
Mom, I think of the many years you were alone and the hard decisions you had to make. Giving up your beautiful home that Dad had built for you. And one by one the losing of your faithful friends who were so much a part of your life.
I never realized and am so sorry I wasn't there for you more. I guess this is a part of our lives we have to go through before we really understand. I am so grateful for the Eternal Plan of Salvation we have to look forward to. I'm grateful for the lovely Lady you are, the wonderful example of being a Mother, Friend and Grandmother. I'm so happy when I think of you and Dad and the awesome things you can now do together with family and friends whom you hadn't seen for many years. I love and respect you and am proud you are my Mother and look forward to the day when we will be together again as a family. I love you and Dad and miss you both, more so lately now that I understand how strong you were all those many days and nights alone.
Your loving daughter,
Elaine