Memories of Snow

My Mother's Prayer Beads

My Mother's Prayer Beads

95 pink beads
Mom intoned God's Most Great Name
her voice melodic

Mom's prayer beads are rose pink. I remember her using them when she was able to comprehend what she was doing. When she worked at the Show Boat she would chant God's Most Great Name before she went to work. I wish I could remember what they renamed the Show Boat after it was sold, but I guess it does not matter because it will always be the Show Boat or the old Show Boat in my memory.

Mom enjoyed working there. Mom enjoyed being a waitress. Mom was a good waitress. When Mom stopped driver she would walk from the house on Bracken Avenue to the Show Boat. I think that was what held the Alzheimer's disease at bay for so long. Mom could not get a job after the Old Show Boat closed. No one would say it was because of her age, but it was. Las Vegas is a young person's town. there is no room for anyone over the age of fifty-five or sixty to work.

No one wants old people working on the Las Vegas Strip or anyplace where tourist go because it would give the wrong impression of this town as a tourist Mecca or perhaps I should say a tourist trap. Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps I am being negative. This is the way it seems to me. Old people are not wanted. Old people are a nuisance. I am getting off the subject. This entry is supposed to be about Mama's prayer beads.

95 pink beads
Mom counted the beads each time
she intoned God's Most Great Name

The prayer beads were a gift to Mom from the Spiritual Assemble of the Baha'is of Las Vegas. I also received a set of prayer beads, but mine were green. I like to use Mom's beads to when I chant the Greatest Name. I remember Mom could chant with such a beautiful voice. Mom had a beautiful singing voice, sometimes I wonder if she could have made a living as a sing instead of a waitress.

Being a waitress was hard work, but Mom enjoyed it. Mom love serving humanity as a food server. I miss Mom so much. I know she is in the Abha paradise. She is a rose in the garden of God. Mom is a rose blooming beneath the Tree of Life.

A blossom in God's garden
Rose beneath the Tree of Life

Every time I look at Mom's prayer beads I think of her. I miss Mom, but I think I am repeating myself. Sometimes I wear the prayer beads around my neck because it makes me feel close to Mom. I want to cry. I know that Mom is happy in paradise. I know that she is watching me with love. Sometimes I think that Mom was the only person in the world who loved and supported me. Mom passed into the Abha Kingdom on November 29, 2012. I have been alone without the center of my life since. I took care of Mom so long that she seemed the center of my life. Now the center of my life is Baha'u'llah.

Mom has ascended into the next world and I am alone on this Earth. All right, perhaps I am not alone, but sometimes it seems that I am alone. However, I can never be alone because I have Baha'u'llah and Mom's prayer beads. Sometimes I wear the prayer beads around my neck and sometimes I place them near my favorite spot in the house. My favorite part is by the coffee maker. Mom loved coffee as much as I do. I am not sure what coffee has to do with prayer beads.

Mom's prayer beads
hangs around my neck
waiting for me to intone
God's Greatest Name.

Mom's favorite flowers were red roses. I remember when we picked out the prayer beads that the Spiritual Assembly gave us, Mom picked the rose pink beads without even thinking about it. I believe she chose the beads because they are the color of a rose. Mom enjoyed going to the Baha'i Holy Day celebrations. There were a lot of things Mom enjoyed. I remember the thing she enjoyed. I remember there were times when I could have been a better daughter, but it is too late for that now. I hope Mom forgives me for the times I was not a good daughter. I know Mom will forgive me because Mom was a forgiving person.

What else can I write about Mom's prayer beads? Perhaps I need to write a poem about them or about Mom using the prayer beads. Maybe write a piece of prose about the prayer beads. How would I start a poem about the prayer beads and Mama? I have to figure out a way to write it or to at least start the poem. I wonder if I should write a sonnet about them or maybe a sonnet about Mama when she used the prayer beads.

Title: Pink or Rose Pink Prayer Beads

First line: 95 pink prayer beads