Slowly, the porch swing glided back and forth and I could feel something big was about to happen. It was like this with Mama. She had this way about her. She carried a force in her that was a kind of constant, unconditional love.

Breaking the silence she said, “You know, Mr. Jim. I’m 88 years old now and I sure ain’t gettin’ any younger. None of us know when it’s our time to pass, but Mama does know that her time here is growin’ short.”

“Oh, Mama, you’re as strong as an ox. Don’t be saying such things!” I blurted out, feeling shocked at the repercussions of what she was saying.

“Oh, don’t you worry, Mr. Jim, it ain’t anytime that soon, but my time it is a comin’,” Mama calmly said. “And so Mama wants to share what the Lord told her to do this mornin’. I wants to sell you and Maggie this old house. You and Maggie and Layla can live upstairs, and me and my family we can use the downstairs. That way we all can be together and Layla she will have her Buddy and her family around her alls the time.”