Extra special mother celebrates extra special day
Barksdale AFB, La. --
For the past 14 years she has raised her sister's three children, and cared for her own daughter, all while furthering her education and Air Force career and striving to overcome the loss of a sister who was her best friend.
Several photos of her four precious children -Crystal, 29; Weldon, 21; Casey, 19; and Kalyn, 15; and lost sister, Cynthia, adorn every corner of Senior Master Sgt. Candy Green's office. Each one is a story she tells with a proud smile upon her face.
Sergeant Green's sister Cynthia, a local comedienne, died in a car accident one weekend before Christmas in December 1994, at the age of 34.
"I moved home [Shreveport] the week before Christmas in 1993," she said, "so I feel that God brought me home, gave me time with her, got time for the kids to get to know me, before he took her on home."
During that time Sergeant Green was already a single mother of a two year old girl, Kalyn, but keeping her nieces and nephew together was important to her sister's memory.
"She was my best friend and I know she would want her kids to stay together," she said, "it was planned, but we didn't know it was planned. It was never discussed."
Recalling that painful time in her life she said, "After she passed away we became an instant family. It was an adjustment but I never even realized... I didn't even get the chance to mourn my sister's passing"
In the years since Cynthia passed away, Sergeant Green has kept all four children involved in school activities which keep her and the kids busy. On any given day she can be seen transporting the kids to: football games, basketball games, practices, band practice and competitions, and church, on top of her duties as the base IMA administrator.
I believe you have to support your kids so they know; first of all that they are loved, and secondly, push them to find their best" she said. "You just make do."
For Sergeant Green, Mother's Day is a time to remind her children of Cynthia, and to celebrate the fact that they still have each other.
"I never let them forget" she said. "For Mother's Day I used to say to them, 'Okay so do you want to do something for your mom?', and it got to the point where I just stopped asking, and they would come to me and say 'I want to bake my momma a cake'."
Although Sergeant Green likes to make Mother's Day about her sister and her kids, they show their love to her as their mother as well.
"They give me roses, they gave me an 'other mother' plaque, when they say 'Mom' instead of 'Aunt Candy', just the little stuff that shows they appreciate me", she said. "We are a family, for us to be separate but one, that is Mother's Day to me."
"Mother's Day is for all of us," she added, "her memory, and the blessing that is on us now, as one family."
Several photos of her four precious children -Crystal, 29; Weldon, 21; Casey, 19; and Kalyn, 15; and lost sister, Cynthia, adorn every corner of Senior Master Sgt. Candy Green's office. Each one is a story she tells with a proud smile upon her face.
Sergeant Green's sister Cynthia, a local comedienne, died in a car accident one weekend before Christmas in December 1994, at the age of 34.
"I moved home [Shreveport] the week before Christmas in 1993," she said, "so I feel that God brought me home, gave me time with her, got time for the kids to get to know me, before he took her on home."
During that time Sergeant Green was already a single mother of a two year old girl, Kalyn, but keeping her nieces and nephew together was important to her sister's memory.
"She was my best friend and I know she would want her kids to stay together," she said, "it was planned, but we didn't know it was planned. It was never discussed."
Recalling that painful time in her life she said, "After she passed away we became an instant family. It was an adjustment but I never even realized... I didn't even get the chance to mourn my sister's passing"
In the years since Cynthia passed away, Sergeant Green has kept all four children involved in school activities which keep her and the kids busy. On any given day she can be seen transporting the kids to: football games, basketball games, practices, band practice and competitions, and church, on top of her duties as the base IMA administrator.
I believe you have to support your kids so they know; first of all that they are loved, and secondly, push them to find their best" she said. "You just make do."
For Sergeant Green, Mother's Day is a time to remind her children of Cynthia, and to celebrate the fact that they still have each other.
"I never let them forget" she said. "For Mother's Day I used to say to them, 'Okay so do you want to do something for your mom?', and it got to the point where I just stopped asking, and they would come to me and say 'I want to bake my momma a cake'."
Although Sergeant Green likes to make Mother's Day about her sister and her kids, they show their love to her as their mother as well.
"They give me roses, they gave me an 'other mother' plaque, when they say 'Mom' instead of 'Aunt Candy', just the little stuff that shows they appreciate me", she said. "We are a family, for us to be separate but one, that is Mother's Day to me."
"Mother's Day is for all of us," she added, "her memory, and the blessing that is on us now, as one family."
