Having a love for gardening, Sweet Mama created a whole room dedicated to plants when she first came to the States. While she lived at the Ketcham House, she cultivated roses and a variety of other flowers and grew vegetables of all kind. She could be found happily nurturing her gardening whenever she could.

Sweet Mama was a very avid reader who from very humble beginnings waited patiently for the time when education and books could be hers for the taking. Sweet Mama's favourite author was Danielle Steele and Grace provided a steady supply from the best-selling novelist. Earlier this year I chanced to start reading one of the novels to Sweet Mama while we huddled in bed. I thought Mama had dozed off, but no, her eye opened and she was as always ready for more of the drama present in Danielle Steele.

Nothing can warm a heart more than seeing two sisters sit side by side on the veranda enjoying a cooling breeze and the chirps of the crickets. One can easily imagine how sisters who had seen so much of life, together, could easily morph back to two little girls sitting on a yam hill in deep reflection, together. I didn't have to imagine much as it seemed to me that whenever I saw Sweet Mama and Loving Auntie take a breather and sit on the porch together, they would giggle and transform into two little girls on a swing, knowing and loving, together.

One poignant memory of life with Mama are the episodes of the spontaneous singing of song. "There Shall be Showers of Blessings" on a rainy Sabbath afternoon and a slew of other songs were part the repertoire Sweet Mama and her (grand)kids would perform during their sing along sessions. Recollection of Sweet Mama teaching her babies "There is a little brown road winding over the hill is heartwarming. When a cerebral infarct became a part of the family's reality many many years ago, it was this song that her Joy insisted would be the thing to bring Sweet Mama back home; and it did.

Some days I grow nostalgic for the times of kneeling by the bed and whispering a simple prayer before sleep; oooh the children in my charge have been known to be encouraged to act on my nostalgia. *smile* Sweet Mama's ultimate escape from the calamities of life: whisper a prayer. Some months ago, extended family, Sweet Mama's "Sister", chanced to mention that she was having a conversation and asked, "How do you deal with all this?" A simple reply: whisper a prayer. Sweet Mama's dedication led to a simple conclusion: the ultimate solution for each and every problem - whisper a prayer. Amen.