TALKING TEXAN

Admittedly the days leading up to Mother’s Day have been more hectic than everyone hopes to have as they prepare to honor the most important ladies in their lives, their mother and their wife; so here’s a Mother’s Day tribute to the woman who makes my crazy, topsy turvy life complete.

It’s been almost seven years since we said, “I do” and how she’s managed to put up with me I’ll never know for sure, but I love her more than anything and anyone in this entire world. She is my heart, my soul, the mother of my son and most of all my wife.

Texans like to sing about the famed yellow rose, but my wife Edna puts even the most perfectly pristine of those sunshine yellow flowers to shame with the glimmer in her eyes and the warmth of her smile. She’s an angel put on this earth to help guide this deadline-driven journalist to calmer endeavors and prevent him from becoming a workaholic.

Without her, I hate to think of where I’d be and what I’d be doing because before I met her all I knew was “Live hard and play even harder.” Everything was done at a frantic pace and if it meant no sleep for more than 24 hours, that was fine by me. Feelings were locked away in the closet, because it was “Mission first. Everything else second.”

Old habits die hard, but she’s never given up on me and now I can see that there are more important things in life than deadlines, meetings, fund-raisers and trying to be a part of everything. True love, family and taking time to listen and cherish the ones you love are far more important and that’s where my priorities should always be.

Lord knows I’m not perfect nor am I anywhere near sainthood, but when it comes to her I know I am a far better man by her side than I ever could be on my own. She’s stood by me through it all from being a grunt to a ditch digger and finally to a newspaper editor.

Together we do things that I never thought could be done and somehow we always find a way to make it through the toughest of times, because true love never falters nor fails. It perseveres and carries us through the darkest days in our lives.

Trust once lost is almost impossible to regain, but it can happen and there will be days when the sun shines and others when it is pouring down rain. Hopefully the sun will shine more than the rain will fall.

Edna, Happy Mother’s Day and when I look to forever all I see is you and CJ by my side. Three in our perfect little family and you are the one who holds us together. Happy Mother’s Day once more and thank you for being exactly who you are: my adviser, my comforter, my lover, my friend, my healer, my beloved, my most honest critic, my angel on earth and the mother of my child. I love you.

Charles Melton is the editor of the Bremerton Patriot.