My Grandma Gladys

Heaven gained a wonderful angel today. Grandma, I love you so much and I am so blessed that you were in my life for 32 years. You showed us all what it really means to live and to love.


Here's the words to a song my sisters and I used to make my grandma sing to us. She never wanted to sing it, but we'd always beg her until she did. It's been running through my head all day. I only remembered some of the words - now that I found them on the internet, I think it's kind of funny that she sang this song to us. In a funny way, despite the drinking and gambling part, it seems like a fitting song today. Maybe it's just the title.

MOTHER, THE QUEEN OF MY HEART
1933, by Hoyt Bryant and Jimmie Rodgers
Recorded by Jimmie Rodgers


I had a home out in Texas,
down where the blue bonnets grew
I had the kindest old mother;
how happy we were just we two
Till one day the angels called her,
the debt we all have to pay
She called me close to her bedside,
these last few words to say.

"Son, don't start drinking and gambling,
promise you'll always go straight."
Ten years have passed since that parting,
that promise I've broke, I must say
I started in gambling for pastime,
at last I was just like them all
I bet my clothes and my money,
not dreaming that I'd ever fall.

One night I bet all my money,
nothing was left to be seen
All that I needed to break them was one card,
and that was a queen
The cards were dealt all 'round the table,
each man took a card on the draw
I drew the one that would beat them;
I turned it and here's what I saw.

I saw my mother's picture,
and somehow she seemed to say
"Son, you have broken your promise,"
so I tossed the cards away
My winnings I gave to a newsboy,
I knew I was wrong from the start
And I'll ne'er forget that promise,
to Mother, the queen of my heart.

I love you Grandma.