Day Ten: My Marie

Before I was even born, I know Marie anticipated my birth.  Once I came on the scene, I am sure she stopped either at the hospital or at my first home with my parents in the first days of my life.  I don’t remember those early days. I have a few stories. My parents became really sick with the flu and couldn’t take care of me, a wee babe.  Without any concern of getting sick herself, she came to my rescue. With lots of love, she fed and changed me. When I got sick, she stayed with me.

My other two stories have to do with Marie's car.  I must have been more mobile. For some reason, I went with her from my grandparents house in Plains to Libby.  She wasn’t paying attention to the weather. The window was rolled down in the back seat. I was asleep. We drove into a storm, the type that rains dumps buckets.  All that water rushed down on me. I woke with a scream. She always felt bad for that. I think it is funny. The other time I was in her car, she had just cleaned it to a sparkle.  I have heard she loved to spoil me. Well, with a bag of popcorn in hand, I spilled it all over. She loved telling that story.

When I was three, Mom, Dad, and I moved from Libby to Eureka.  A few years later, Marie moved to Hot Springs. I don’t remember seeing her often.  I am sure I saw her, but the memories are gone. I do remember that I knew she was married to Baptist Lamoose, a Native American from the Flathead Reservation.  I know I met him because I have a vivid picture of him in my young imagination. I truly believed he was a wise chief, or maybe even a medicine man. I always thought of Marie as a wise woman of the tribe.  (I had a really good imagination as a child that I haven’t outgrown.) I still think about them in this light.

As a teenager, I remember them being at a family reunion.  I was in such awe of them both. I was sad when Baptist passed away a few years later.  I never got to know him. I envied one of my cousins. She got to spend time with them during the summer. 

We moved back to Libby in 1983, but I left in 1987 after I graduated. Marie didn’t return to Libby until after I was established in other parts of Montana.  Thus, I didn’t get to see her often; though, I have always felt her presence. I think this is why my imagination ran wild with me as a child. I have never felt parted from her.  She must have some type of magic!

These last few years, I haven’t been able to see Marie enough, but I have been able to see her more and I am so very thankful.  For the last two books I have published, she has been my editor. She has been my biggest fan and cheerleader. We have talked about life, writing, family, and more life.  She helped me with my dad’s passing and my career. I am not sure what I am going to do without her presence here on Earth.

Goodbyes, however, are not necessary.  Will I mourn? Oh, most definitely. Going back home to Libby, will be a little less shiny.  But I know my Marie is with me. I know she will be looking over my shoulder to see what I am up to with the rest of Corrion’s series.  She isn’t going to leave me. For fifty years, I have felt her with me. The feeling will not go away.

So dear Marie, I miss you.  I love you. Don’t forget to give Dad a hug.  And keep being my mentor, now from the other side.