My mother's 70th

Last month I was privileged to go home and enjoy a birthday celebration with my mother. In the many years that I have lived away from home this is probably the first time I have been able to share my mother's birthday.

(I am the one between my father's legs)

What a time we had reflecting on one of the greatest lives to intersect with mine. She was born Carolyn Elizabeth Byrd in Arkansas. She was raised on the farm with no running water or in door plumbing. Wow, that sounds so ancient!

This is the lady that was a vessal that God allowed to not only conceive me and birth me but also to raise me with the values that I have today. She is a woman of singular strength and amazing wisdom. She navigated having four children, losing her husband when he was only 35 years of age, providing for us as the main bread-winner, and lauching us into the world successfully.

Carolyn Elizabeth married my father when she was still a teenager. He was a man committed to the USAF and she left her country setting to live all over the USA as he went from base to base. Dad, could not resist a homecoming queen and the captain of the ladies basketball team to boot! She caught his eye and stole his heart. So in the quickest way they got married across the Mississippi River in Hornlake, Mississippi. Carolyn Byrd became Carolyn Sulcer and she has four of us to prove it!!

When Dad got sick with melinoma cancer she nursed him until she could no longer and stood by his bedside when he passed away. I will never forget the story she told us after we buried him and was having such a hard time of making it through the loss.

She told us of an incident in which Dad had an angelic visit, relaying to him the unalterable coming of his death. However, this divine being assured my father that every one of us would be cared for and protected. This simple incident would go on to shape my view of God and his love for us. And as the years went by I could see this simple comfort from an angel confirmed over and over again.

Carolyn Byrd Sulcer would meet someone near and dear to all of us within a year of my father's passing. She would take on the namesake of Roy Cason a few years later. He was a wonderful comfort and support to my Mom for many years to follow. Roy passed away a couple of years ago now, but he was a tremedous support and companion to my mother.

Carolyn Cason was a wonderful real estate investor. She took the money she had invested in other homes and then re-sold those homes to make greater investements. She purchased some land in Hickory Withe, Tennessee of about 60 acres and then over the years subdivided it and built and sold homes on the property. I remember thinking, "Will this be the last home we will live in?" However, we would invariably move to the next lot and the next house until she ended up selling the total 60 acres and buying another 60 acres. Today she lives on most of that amount. But she is debt free because of her investment strategies!! Also, today two of my siblings, my older brother Ricky, and my younger sister Leticia, along with their families, live on parts of this property.

Mom also cares deeply for her family. Not only has she provided her children a place to settle close to her but she has built a home, with the help of her siblings, for my grandmother, MamaByrd.

If there is one thing that stands out as a principle value held by my mother it is the value of honesty in life. She told us to always tell the truth no matter how bad it may hurt because truth was the only way to live a deep and significant life. I love my Mama!! She is the best and this is a simple tribute to her blessing in my life