Reply #20: I feel my mother's presence in the hummingbirds that visit the flowers around my house. [View All]

My mom died over two years ago, I still miss her terribly. She was 88 and died in peace asleep.

One of the first things that she taught me to do as a child was to feed the ants. She told me that if they had enough to eat outside, they would not bother to go all the way into the house to get food. So, everyday I would go out with a sugar bowl and spoon and sprinkle sugar gently around each and every ant hill on the acre of ground that we lived on. Then she would send me to up to my grand aunt's place on the hill who spent her last years cooking huge pots of food on the stove to feed the 30+ stray cats and 20+ stray dogs that roamed the countryside (this was before there were animal shelters and people used to dump their pets in the countryside). I would get to help her put all the food out and call the dogs and cats who would come out of nowhere, eat and then go away into the woods with full bellies.

Thank you Mommy and Grand Aunt!