Hattie (See What My Mother Wrote)

Lately very sad things are turning into very heartwarming things. I wrote a blog post featuring Hattie's stories on February 18th. I didn't know that later that day, her son Keith (gentleman in the suit and tie in the photo above), who had a perfect bill of health, would suddenly pass away from a heart attack. Hattie was in class last Thursday for the first time since that had happened. She told me at his memorial (attended by 2000 people, which speaks to what a difference he had made on this earth), Keith's secretary told her that he was an avid follower of this very blog. Every time I post one of Hattie's stories, he would tell his secretary, "Vicki, see what my mother wrote!" Hattie had never met Vicki before and this was what Vicki made sure to tell her. Hattie knew Keith had checked out the blog years ago, but didn’t know he kept coming back.

Hattie told our group all this with a deep smile that, even if it’s just for a moment, seemed to wipe away her pain. When Hattie first walked into the room, I was surprised to see her back so soon after Keith’s passing; when she told us all this, it made sense. I am glad that being in our group and having her stories here on this blog can give her this kind of comfort. I am glad that seeing his mom’s stories gave at least one man moments of inspiration and joy, even if it’s in a lifetime that was cut way too short.

Here is the blog post that I posted the day Keith passed away. I wonder if he had time to read it that day.

Here is a story that Hattie wrote back in 2010. Keith dropped some major hints for his mom to write a story about him, so she did and asked me to post it right away ;)

Vicki, if you are reading this now, thank you for sharing what you shared with Hattie. I think it gave her more comfort that you and I could ever imagine.