Shawn's Speech

I again want to thank all my family and friends for the support they are giving.
They say the pain will get easier in time. I can not imagine a second, minute or hour where its going to be easy with out Mom. What I do know is the FLOCK will stick together.

SPEECH:
I never thought in a million years that I would be standing up on this Bima for the reason I am. I’m usually up here to be the Bima guest reading announcements or giving a power point presentation to the congregation. .

Courage – The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain without fear; bravery

Love – A feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.

Strength – The quality or state of being strong; bodily or muscular power.

Dignity – nobility or elevation of character; worthiness, dignity of sentiments,

Loyal – Faithful to any leader, party, or cause, or to any person or thing conceived as deserving fidelity; a loyal friend.

These are only a few words that fit my mom.

Mother and I had so many similarities, we love to chat, we love to go on walks, Spending time together in the green house taught me everything I know about plants, mom showed me how to cook, how to love, how to respect. Mom could dance and dance for a long time but couldn't’t get down like me.
My mom was an extremely protective mother for her family.
I’ll never forget how much fun mom and I had when I was dads replacement in couples golf. Dad was recovering from neck issues. The competitive edge we both brought to the game got us third place. While mom was not electronically inclined, she did learn quickly how to text message from the cell phone. So this past October and November, mom would send me daily text messages about all the deer in the neighborhood she saw on her morning walk, their location, a buck or a doe, how many points, if they are in dembi or up at her house.

Some interesting facts-
•15,300 lunch sandwiches mom maid for my dad, brother and I, not including Jen.
• 15,000 gourmet dinners were cooked for my dad.
• Technically speaking we refer to several ostriches grouped together as a Herd not a Flock, but I like flock better.
• Ostriches typically eat plants, roots and seeds. My mom loved to grow plants, was proud of her roots and helped put the seed in me to make me the man I am today.
• Ostriches produce the strongest commercially available leather in the world. This explains how my mom was such a strong person and was able fight so hard to the end.
• Lastly, Ostriches do not bury there head in the sand.

Experiencing this incomprehensible tragedy, I am again reminded of how strong my family’s dignity, love, courage, and strength is. The power of family and friends is one of the most amazing and important things in the world to me. I hope and pray that this will make me and all of us even stronger and further motivate each and every one of us to love and cherish what you have this given moment.

Shawn David Ostrich