There is someone who is dear to me

I do not keep my feelings hid

Often times I wish she were here

So we can talk and laugh like kids.

She is my very best good friend

She is my brother's wife

Her name is "Miss Billie"

Seems I've know her all my life

Over a half a cen-tur-y ago

When first I met Miss Billie

Just days before her wedding day

When we grafted her to our family tree.

I go to see her now and then

A "to-go-list" she should have

So we can go to see new things

Then later; we can talk and rave.

One time when I was visitin' her

We took off on a discovery hike

Found our way to a Funeral Museum

Just West of the Interstate-45 Pike.

Odd and interesting things were there

Caskets, carriages, sleds and a bus

Camera in hand: Photos I took!

So much of it was strange to us.

This is the strangest place we've been

Some things we couldn't comprehend

We looked and read all their displays

A must see place, we recommend.

So many people had never heard

Of such a place as that

It surely got their curiosity stirred

With them awhile, we'd have to chat.

Then off to the Outlet Mall we went

Bought some flowers for someone dear

I always make a visit there

At Garden Park when I am near.

Once, J.R. and I went to Billie's

Some good fried fish we wanted to eat

To Bryce's Landing on the TX-LA border

We three agreed, "The fish couldn't be beat".

Letters to Miss Billie I write

Just to let her know I care

I say she is my other sister

None other can compare.

I'm thinking of all the many ways

My world has been truly blessed

'Cause you're my friend and sister

I love you: There, I've confessed.

Bessie MelVina Carathers

July 8, 2000