It has been a very long year, and things are so much more different now than when it all began.  It is indeed a different world without you. Mom, I just want you to know that it has been my honor and pleasure to have cared for you.  It was very difficult for me to see you slipping away over time, watching you trying so hard to hold onto your memory and sensabilities, and all the while wondering when the kidney cancer would finally catch-up with you.  I thank God that you were mostly pain free most of the time, and the dementia was actually a kind of blessing in disguise toward the end. Something drew me to you on that final day, so I swabbed your mouth, and you bit-down on it to show me that you knew I was there.  I held and caressed your hand as you tried with difficulty to gaze upon me, with a tear in your eye, and I told you that everything was alright--you were not alone and that I was there for you.  I told you to go to Jesus if you saw Him, and I guess that you did because moments later you breathed your last.  I then prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet at that moment as I had promised you I would do.  (Jesus I Trust in You!) Tears ran across my face as I prayed, tears of both happiness and pain.  I knew you were free, but I would no longer have you with me.  Selfish, maybe, but I became closer to you within that year than at any other time in my life--and now there is a void.  All that I can hope for is for one day to see you again in heaven, so I hope that you will again "be there" for me when my time comes. I love you...miss you...and can not wait to see you (and everyone else) again. Good-by, Mom.  Until we meet again....Eternal Rest grant upon her, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her.  May she rest in peace. Amen!