Today is the birthday of two of my favorite heroes: one was a USA president, the other a USA queen. A beauty queen. If not in title, at least in character, spirit and glamour.
To Abe, forgive me for slighting your 199th as I honor my dear, deceased friend Lynn Pennebaker Birdsong Strate on what would have been her 67th birthday.
We in the South know a true Southerner when we see one. Lynn was a true Southerner: lovely, gracious, high-spirited and given to a wide streak of good ol' Mississippi rebelliousness. She was kind to strangers, loving toward the less fortunate and--when she felt the need for it--hard as hell on herself, her closest friends and her Mississippi family. No Nonsense, Please may as well have been her middle name.
In her last two decades, she enjoyed unending love and support from her husband David and their Mormon faith, as well as an unfailing inspiration from the beauty of place and character of people in the Big Sky Country of Montana.
Lynn died September 27, 2007 after six years of debilitating illness. But in that, as in all else, she was elegant, intense and demanding of the best for everyone she encountered. Fortunately, I was one of them. I love her to this day.
Were Lynn here, she would have received a big bouquet of the type she and I so faithfully exchanged over the years on our birthdays. Today, the bouquet is made of words rather than flowers.
To Lynn, my beloved Friend, on her 67th. Love now and always from "Naaaaaancee Rooooooth," as she would say. How I miss her honey-laden pronunciations and razor sharp insights in everything she ever said. Unforgettable.
Truly unforgettable.
2 comments:
Nancy Ruth, Thank you for the very beautiful bouquet of words you wrote in memory of Lynn on her birthday. There is no doubt in my mind that she got your message and is full of smiles. Bless you for remembering Lynn in such a thoughtful and loving way which touched her heart and mine.
Jon on 2-12-08
Hi Nancy Ruth, Your comments were very heart warming, very true and reminiscent of my "Sweetheart", our girl. I needed a little cry. It feels very good to remember her and who she was (is). Thank you for your bouquet.....to her and me. My love to you, David
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