December 16, 2015. Madison, Ms. Mrs. Greaves.

No matter how old your Mother is when she dies, she is always the same amount older than you.  And you will never have another Mother so the loss of your Mother is difficult.  This morning, Mrs. Greaves died.  She seemed to be in good health, but she died.  I have only been with Mrs. Greaves a few times but I remember her well.  She was a great lady.  Now she has gone.

Mrs. Greaves is the Mother of our good friends Eleanor, Greta Barbour, Arnie, Sebastian and Henry.  She lived on the family farm in Madison.  When Mr. and Mrs. Greaves moved with their five children to Madison everyone thought them to be nuts.  Madison was not trendy…yet.  And they home schooled their children, way before anyone else was doing it.   When we asked Eleanor about the decision to home school, she thought that her parents, especially her Mother, tended to be ornery about life in general.  Mrs. Greaves was unfailingly gracious but she definitely did not dance to anyone else's tune.   She hated it when people came up to her to tell her their name, thinking that she would not remember.  Until recently, she knew exactly who you were and even what you did.  And she was in her upper 80's.  She was a sharp one and a true southern lady.   We will miss her.