Your Mother Is Always With You Poem by Deborah R Culver

Written for my mother Joann L Force, September 14,1940 - December 24,1985 died after a long battle with breast cancer, that at one time she had gone into remission so we were not expecting her to die. My Dad and I were her primary caregivers. I was only 23 years old. When they sent her home with hospice, I didn't know anything about hospice and didn't have the internet to research how best to help my Mom. So, it was really hard when she died, as she was only 45 years old. Her favorite time was Christmas and she died Christmas Eve morning…it would have been much worse had it been in the evening…morning was bad enough. If I had known she was dying we would have celebrated Christmas early for her. That morning she was having difficulty breathing and hadn't woken up. Dad was going to call the doctor and sent me to the store to by foods for Christmas Eve Holy Night and Christmas Day dinner celebrations. I remember being at the grocery store missing her so much, we always shopped together. I also was a newlywed of 4 months and she wasn't able to be in the planning as she wished and the fun shopping, etc… She did come with me when I tried on my wedding dress, one I had seen a few years earlier in a magazine. She was able to be at my wedding. She looked lovely although she wore a wig which looked natural on her because she had lost all her hair. The fact that my mother's favorite gift or wish for Christmas - to meet Jesus was answered is something I love. She and Dad always made Christmas incredibly special for me and my younger 4 brothers. So, the line, " She is Christmas Morning" is true…her love, joy and happiness of giving was palatable and made all of us givers from the heart for life! I wrote the original poem and shared it on my Facebook page. My friends shared it and my name was removed from the poem and it was labeled Unknown Author. I had Facebook deactivate my page because it was hacked and had forgotten I had shared my poem on it. I didn't realize this had happened in 2018-2019. I was reading my poem on my home computer when I thought, everything stays in cyberspace, perhaps I can find the post. I Goggled the title " Your Mother Is Always With You" and was shocked to see the love of my Mother in poem had gone viral and was listed as Author Unknown! I had Facebook re-activate my account and along with original posting history and original dated hand-written poem and submitted to be copyrighted. If you could please add the authorship on your post, I would greatly appreciate it. Everyone that I reach out to whether they have posted my poem on websites or using it to make beautiful items for sale have told me how much the poem has helped them. It's a blessing knowing the love of my Mom is helping others.