Rest in Peace, Mom, and thank you for everything!

My Step-Mom raised me from the time I was five years old.  Like any Mother-Daughter relationship we had our ups and downs.  She did things wrong as I did.  I had a smart mouth and she was quick to punish any sign of it.  She believed in corporal punishment and I was beaten regularly between the ages of five and thirteen.  I hated her for that.  Then at thirteen I discovered how to keep my mouth shut and she started to teach me to cook.  She was a superb German-style cook while I lean toward Italian-style cooking.  I so appreciate the skills she taught me.  I didn't realize until recently that I was a prep chef long before the popular cooking shows featured it.  Together we cooked for a large and extended family.  We were poor monetarily but my Dad hunted and fished and had a large garden every year.  "Mom" made fresh baked rolls that would melt in your mouth.  We never lacked for food because we grew it ourselves or Dad caught it.  One year she taught me how to can and another year taught me how to make jellies and jams.  Summertime at our house was very active preparing for the next winter.    She never learned to make decent saurkraut; it was her only failing.  Spoiled kraut is bad, very very bad in the house.  She also failed to can the fresh sausage correctly one year and it spoiled.  The smell was horrendous.  Everything else though was so good to eat.  I can not eat mediocre food because of her; she set the food standard in my life very high.  Here is a picture I snapped on my phone of her during one of her last "good" days.  Her mind was clear to the end but her body failed her.