Dedication to my Daughter, Sherri Lynn

Six years ago this month my heart’s delight passed away. Sherri was 35 years old and died of cancer. It started out as cervical cancer which could have been detected if she only had gone to have her yearly pap smear. As it was, money was tight for her and she let it go for 5 years. By the time it was discovered even surgery was out of the question. She went through chemo and radiation and, for a while, was in regression. However, cancer, as it usually does, reappeared and struck her in the spine, heart and other areas that I cannot recall right now. She lived about 4 1/2 years from the original discovery and I was able to spend the last 3 1/2 weeks of her life at her side.

Sherri was everything beautiful; a rainbow, a bubble, a star glimmering in the sky, a rosebud after the rain or an enchanting butterfly. She was small and delicate with gentle features, totally trusting and a warm, caring personality. I wish I had a photo to post on the site for everyone to see but she died before digital cameras and I do not own a scanner at this time and cannot scan her photo.

Needless to say, Sherri was loved by her whole family. As a child she was a pure delight filled with sweetness and warmth. She was quiet and introverted, a good student, a budding artist and a daughter that brought joy daily into the lives of those in her family. Sherri studied dance and art and painted some lovely pictures that in there being at least remind people that she was here. She absorbed the teachings of life refusing to see any disparity but creating beauty out of all she came in contact with.

She married when she was 20 years old on Valentine’s day. She bore two beautiful sons, Joshua and Sean, who were her whole life. She took great joy in being a mother and wife and strived in instill in her sons the teachings she had learned in her brief life and also developed in them a love and deep appreciation of nature in her sons.

She worked hard to attain the goals and challenges she set for herself and worked with conviction and determination towards that end. She shared her happiness with life with her small, close circle of friends and family and, for the most part, remained in the background preferring to observe and teach rather than lead.

She was a shining example of what a daughter can be - loving, compassionate, beautiful and good, honest and principled, determined and sensitive. She was what, I feel, every mother would wish for in her daughter and I am proud to have been part of her life.

No one should lose a child; parents are suppose to pass on first. Losing a child is losing part of your life; the grief is overwhelming and it took many years to think of her without crying. I do still, owever, get a tear in my eye when I see her handwriting, a photo of her or review some of the cards she sent me over the years.

I had three children and I treasure each and every one of them and they have all given me great pleasure and happiness.

Sherri is gone but not forgotten and in that memory she will live on.

Goodbye my sweet darling,
Your Mommy