Enter October

The end of September came but not without sadness.

My mother died.
Fuck you Cancer.
Fuck you Chemotherapy.
I love you mom - always will.

Carol Lynn Marchbanks
(formerly Pasterniak, McDowell, and Weidner)
At 58 years of age she passed from our physical presence on Monday, September 12, 2005 at 11 a.m. in Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

She was born in Cleveland, Ohio, had lived a long time in Miami, Florida, and in Cordele, Albany, & Leesburg, Georgia. The Rev. Bobby Moye officiated the ceremony. She graduated from North Miami High School. She had an Associate's degree in Journalism from Dade Junior College.

She worked years in Advertising & Marketing, becoming a partner in an advertising firm. She was President of the Lee County Chamber of Commerce for ten years. She also worked for the Georgia Department of Investigative Services. She was a longtime member of St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Cordele, Georgia, where she had many friends.

She was one amazing woman. She was a Super-Mom. She worked HARD to support my brother and me when we were kids. She also taught us SO incredibly much about life and love and poetry, how to cook family recipes, how to laugh and be laughed at, how to get our points across and not burn bridges, how to be kind and compassionate, how to appreciate music & communication, and taught us a ton of values one couldn't begin to list. She was the kind of mom many kids dream of having. She was awesome. And very importantly, she will not be forgotten.

At her memorial service my brother and I did our respective duties. My brother is a music teacher. He played Amazing Grace on the Uillean pipes (similar to bagpipes) at her service, then I said a few words about mom then recited one of her poems about Ogden the Turtle and his trials in life.

Ogden's Demise
by Carol L. Marchbanks

There once was a turtle named Ogden
Who was left all alone and forgotten.
On the side of the road
He lay in the cold
Feeling unloved and lonely and rotten.

Then it came to his mind in a flash
He'd resemble a gray bag of trash!
Surely, someone would care...
Pick him up, if they dare.
A worthwhile deception, 'tho brash.

He thought....

They'd discover he really was nice.
Turtle soup or a steak wouldn't suffice
'Cause the love of a friend's
Better than a sad end
And a friend..... they would love him for life!

Sure enough....

A kinf lady drove past him that night
And so saddened by poor Ogden's plight
She'd risk life and limb
Rescuing him
And attempt to set everything right.

But alas, she arrived much too late.
Poor Ogden had gone to his fate.
He died in a heap
On the side of the street,
Never meeting or knowing a mate.

We'll remember poor Ogden so well
And his story, so often, we'll tell.
We'll all shed a tear
Whenever we hear
Of the turtle whose life was such hell.

There is an additional stanza I'll add to this post soon that she wrote 3/4 down in the poem. She added it I'm sure as a result of meeting Larry, her last husband. He's one hell of a guy and treated her well. Thank you Larry, for being such an amazing guy.