Before I met you, Carolyn...

Before I met you, Carolyn, I met your son.
And because good ol' Joffre the Younger is an unforgettable character both inside and out, I could not help but to think of you immediately.
I mean, can you blame me?
You come upon Joffre and think, almost as a knee-jerk reaction: whoa... I wonder about his mom.
And I had never even met you.

Under these circumstances, you can wonder about all sorts of silliness, right?
Were you a giant?
Were you a no-nonsense intellectual with a peculiar sense of humor?
Were you a steadfast Christian, not only in your heart but in your mind as well?
A theologian would be Joffre's choice term, I guess.
Were you a theologian?

One day, as Joffre and I were talking about everything from the cabbages to the kings, I asked about you.
He was nonchalant.
You're only the mom.
Nice, healthy, typical reaction from a 19-year-old boy.

I smiled at the purity, simplicity, and power of his reaction.
Of course, at that moment I could not know that even though Joffre didn't say much about you, his manner in his response revealed all those qualities, which later I would come to know in you first-hand: a pure, simple, and powerful energy yours, Carolyn Swait.

At every moment of your life.