Rain, Rain ...

It's been storming heavily here all night ... started just before I went to sleep last night and it was there when I got up this morning. That's a lot of rain for this period around here.

Then I thought of "Rain, rain. Smoky Mountains is thy name." I just now tried to google it and got no hits. But it's from one of the early chapters of a wonderful book on the Smoky Mountains by an author whose name I can't recall for the moment.

Oh I do miss the Smokies. When we lived in Knoxville, in East Tennessee, I went hiking there so many times. Charlie's Bunion and the Appalachian Trail and Gregory's Bald and the Jump Off ... how I miss them all.

Momma you and me went for a drive every now and then to Cades Cove. You didn't particularly like the mountains ... always liked relatively level lands where you said you could keep your feet flat on the ground. But oh Cades Cove ... beautiful rolling meadows, and old time farm houses, and cattle, and deer ... the deer in Cades Cove were always such a delight for both of us weren't they. And the flowers and streams and lovely lovely views across the Cove with the Smokies mounting high up above the Cove in the near distance.

It was raining so hard when I visited your grave this morning Momma. I prayed by candle light. OOR from Holy Week and MP from the Office for the Dead. Really beautiful and painful and even with all the rain and the water standing everywhere in the darkened cemetery it was really lovely ... and reminded me of Cades Cove in the rain.

Oh Momma ...

I miss you so so so so so so much ...

I love you and miss you

I love you Jesus

O Jesus please please please take good care of my good Momma

I love you Jesus

I love you Momma

Thank you

Thank you both so much

Thank you all so so so much

Rain, rain ... life is thy name ...

Charles Delacroix
Tuesday of Holy Week