The one I wrote just before her funeral.

I tried to draw you, but my fingers still shake,

I tried to sing about you, but my voice still cracks,

I tried to describe you, but I still can't do you justice,

I tried to listen to others, but the one you were with me is the special one that I want to keep.

With every day that passes, you will keep forever within my heart

Your image will stay with me as I move on where you cannot.

I will hear your laugh when I find something I know you would love.

My love for you will move, as I do, through the years.

I will draw you in my heart,

I will sing to you with every breath I take,

I will describe you to myself every day

And I will listen to others about you, knowing it will make you stronger in my soul.

I love you, Mom.

I will miss you always

Autumn Hobson 04/07/2010

Mother

Mother
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English moder, from Old English mOdor;aking to Old High German muoter mother, latin mater, Greek mEtEr, Sanskrit mAtr
1 a: a female parent, b: a woman in authority; specifically: the superior of a religious community of women, c: an old or elderly woman
2. Source, Origin mother of invention>
3. Maternal tenderness or affection
4: [short for motherfucker] sometimes vulgar: Motherfucker
5: something that is an extreme or ultimate example of its kind especially in terms of scale

How many definitions do there need to be to describe one person?
Considering that a mother can be an infinite number of things to any one person, I suppose there can be infinite definitions to describe her.

Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. ~Marion C. Garretty, quoted in A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul

My mother has made me more brave than she will ever know. She has let me know, in no uncertain terms, that the road of my life is going to be difficult, that I will fall, but that I will also get back up and keep moving. She made sure that I not only knew how to think for myself, but that I knew how to think. The positive things, that have made me who I am, come from both of my parents, but without my mother I would have been lost. She showed me that you can have a sense of humor when you look at your life, even at its most desperate time and that you can be quite serious if you need be in the funniest situations.

Mother - that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries. ~T. DeWitt Talmage

I have never had the chance to fell that I was unloved or unwanted. She never allowed that. My mother was not only someone that I could and did look up to, but she was the person that all the kids I knew looked up to. Every student she has taught and every person she's known has loved my mother just for being herself. 

If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden. ~Attributed to Claudia Ghandi

As I walk through the streets of my life

As I listen to he music that surrounds me

When I look into the starts

Anytime I drive past a red convertible

When I'm confronted with 

Strange rock formations, pyrite and quartz

You will forever be in my mind

Your influence on me has been great

And I shall always be a better person

For having been raised by you.

I love you, Mah!

Happy Mother's Day

Autumn Hobson 05/10/07

So I am taking the summer and next semester off of school. I need to work full time and work on my finances so that I can get my own place. I've missed my freedom. Granted, I would rather not have it at the hands of the situation I was dealt. But it is what it is. There is nothing I can say or do to bring her back. So I move foreward, however reluctantly that may be.

I may start baking. Perhaps for money. I'm not sure how all of that will pan out yet. I suppose as long as I keep the prices under the local bakeries, I can make some money. Not at first, but eventually. I have also been considering doing a number of other creative things on the side, like learning to weld and doing metal sculpturing. Or jewelry and knitting...whichever. I have the need to be creative and productive, I am just not sure where to start. Anyone want to be my guinea pig taste tester? I can take requests. You tell me what you want made and I'll attempt it. :)

Anyway, I'm avoiding homework and school right this minute to write this. That's ok. I only have 2 more weeks of school left. And then no more until Spring. I need the break anyway. I have been so lethargic about the work and that was before my mom died. You can imagine how I feel now. I finally found the things I had written my mom that I read at the funeral. I'll post them separately in the next blog. This is a short one and I'm hoping to actually use this thing more for cathartic purposes.

My mom's Obituary

Joanne “Jo” Madelyn Kaupp Hobson passed away on April 3, 2010. She would have been 55 on April 12. Joanne had a passion for science and her ability to make others understand it contributed greatly to her success as a teacher. She was extremely proud of her years spent at St. Tammany Jr. High, Chalmette and Salmen High, and Slidell Jr. High. She received Teacher-of-the-Year twice and numerous awards throughout her career. She was beloved by the thousands of students that passed through her hands over her 20 years in the classroom. She had a Bachelor’s degree in Biology Education from the University of New Orleans but her passion from childhood was in Geology and Space sciences. Her love and interest for the NASA space program resulted in a long-standing relationship with Rocketdyne that allowed her to broaden the minds even further of those she taught. Her love for it and the humor she used in and out of the classroom were contagious and these things made her unforgettable. Her death leaves a black hole in the hearts of many and a vast empty space, difficult to fill, for any who knew her. She will be greatly missed.

Joanne was preceded in death by her parents, Gerard and Ruth Kaupp. She is survived by her husband, Jim Hobson, her children, Jesse and Wendy Hobson, Autumn Hobson, and Holly and Dale Goodman, and her grandchildren, Tyler, Joey, and Arianna Hobson and Carlin and Ella Goodman. She is also survived by her siblings, Tom and Cindy Kaupp, Jeri Ann and Tom Barron, Kathy and Gerard Gambino and Gerard Kaupp, Jr. She will also be missed by a host of nieces and nephews. Her family expresses regret that they are not able to fulfill her final wishes of being shot into space on the next shuttle mission, so they will be having an open wake and service for all those that wish to pay their respects. The wake will be held at Honaker-Forest Lawn Cemetary in Slidell on Thursday from 6-9pm with a service at 7:30.