Book Ends

Today I am celebrating the completion of my forty-fifth trip around the sun. And I'd have to say that I am exhausted.

Yesterday morning, my mother gave me a present I'll never forget. At 10:04am on May 17th, 2011, her life here on earth came to an end. My friend Jack tells me that as you grow older, holidays become morbid. I just wish that people would choose a different one to pick on. You see, on May 19th, 2002, my husbands mother passed away. Yes, today, May 18th is my birthday. I have his mothers death the day after and my mothers death the day before. Bookends to hold my birthday up.

Maxine Ellen Shattuck Adams was born November 9th, 1933 in a small country town in Michigan. She lost her father at just 12 years of age to a factory explosion and her mother to cancer when she was 20. When she was 19 years old, she married the man that would become my father, Ralph "K" Adams Jr. In one month they would have been married for 58 years. She enjoyed raising her seven children and spoiling her six grandchildren and four great grandchildren. She was the matriarch of many families so that everyone that knew her called her Mom and brought their taxes to her each year as she was the owner, operator and chief cook and bottle washer of Max's Taxes.

Maxine is preceded in death by her parents, two infant sisters and her two long loved brothers. Also preceded by her step-son.

A gathering and viewing will be held on Sunday, May 22 at Smith Family Funeral Home in Port Huron, MI from 1pm to 8pm with a luncheon from 3 to 6pm at the Thomas Edison Inn. And a service in her honor will be held on Monday, May 23 at 10am. A private family burial will follow in the Shattuck plot, back home in Selkirk, MI where she will rest beside her parents, a brother and sisters.

Good bye Mom! You did good and deserve a rest. You will always live in our hearts.

A song to send Mom on her way

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