Dear Agnes,

1...Thank you for remembering every birthday I have had in 59 years with a greeting card. I also appreciate your constant documenting of photos and newspaper clippings of my life, as well as every one else you have ever known. One day those 50 pounds of scrapbooks weighing down your cupboard shelf are going to become a historian's dream

2...Thank you for rescuing snippets of my late mother's plants while the construction crew tore my childhood home down. With my horticultural talents, I have successfully ended up killing every plant you gave me.

3...Thank you for not being mad that my sister and I never married your sons. You never batted an eye when I hit your oldest son over the head at age 8 with a toy garden hoe. Thank you also for not sending me home when your husband Fred had a pail of gas by the car and I threw hay in it. And yes, I was looking for matches.

Finally, I am sending you my heart. If your door had never been open for my late sister and me, we would have sadly not become part of your 'kitchen table family". It was a table that was filled with food, conversation and the songs of Hank Snow and Jim Reeves playing in the background. This will always be an important part of my childhood I will remember forever and I thank you for caring and loving me.

I am dedicating this Jim Reeves' song to you on Mother's Day. It is called "I Love You Because."

I Love You Agnes and Happy Mother's Day.

Linda Seccaspina

Copyright 2011- Originally written  in 2010