My heart is filled with sadness because we’re saying goodbye to Lisa, my mother. It’s no secret that mom was challenging to love and had a complex personality. But despite her struggles, I know she loved us deeply. She had her days; Mom was a strong woman who didn’t take any nonsense from anyone. She was fiercely independent and didn’t need anyone’s help. Mom was also one of the most generous people I knew. She wouldn't give you the shirt off her back, but she most definitely would go into the store and get you a brand new one & some shoes if you needed them. I will never forget mom for her strength, independence, and Realness. These qualities made her who she was. The things she used to say still ring in my head, that her mother used to say to her," Give me flowers while I live", "On any given day I might have felt like breaking up somebody's home, if I don't break it up ill for sure put a hurtin on it" she used to tell me that her mother gave her the key to the city, I know she still holding onto it for me. My last memories with my mother were great, we got a hotel and had a girls' night.  We Argued about how I wouldn't let her do my hair. How much I couldn't stand when she would lick her thumb and try to clean my face! We even had a chance to bond in the back of a police car! Heavy is the head that bares the crown she would tell me, how I was destined for greatness and deserved more than the world and everything in it, she called me pretty little sad girl.  Guess I was sad because I knew that one day my mother would no longer be here, I didn't expect it to be so soon. Nor did I expect it to be so hard. I remember when my brothers and I were kids, shed wake us in the morning by saying, “rise and shine and give god the glory” she was always smiling, singing, rapping, trying to find reasons to bring people together. She used to sneak into my room when I wasn't home and take items to her house, so when I got home I thought I was crazy, because something else was always missing,  it wasn't till later I found out that she'd been doing that because apparently I was going to move in with her and I didn't know it. I was fortunate to be able to spend the last few years with her, to get to see her every day, in my case hide from her every day. Man do I regret running when I should have pulled her close.  She used to sing this little light of mine all the time, never thought I'd miss hearing that song so much. She made music when there was none, where there was none. She brought beauty when there was none, where there was none. Always making something out of nothing, and always was herself. When she loved, she loved hard. She was my biggest fan, every day of the week. 365 days (about 12 months) a year and some. “I wonder if my first breath was as soul-stirring to my mother as her last breath was to me.”