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We Miss Denise · Let's Ask the Mamas!

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We got a question for American mamas. Dear mama's, I can't believe it's
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been a year since we lost Denise. Well, let's ask our American mamas.
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Mama and joining us now are American momentary Nuteville, Kimberly Burlison is out
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and about to enjoying her Valentine's Day. It has been a year since we
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lost Denise on Valentine's Day last year. For me, it seems to me
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like it's actually been a lot longer than a year. I can't believe it's
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only been a year. It feels like it's been because there's been so much
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change I think since then. And I'm opposite. I can hardly believe it's
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been a year. I was telling I was talking to Kevin. I was
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talking to my husband about it, and I said, it's times like this
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that I realize how fast for me time flies. I said, this time
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last year, my son Steel was helping Denise's son and other friends carry her
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casket. And I just feel it feels like it was just yesterday. And
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I think about all the things that she did, all the things she wanted
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to do, all the things left undone that we're going to do for her,
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and that her family will do for her. But she was the brightest
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light with the farthest reach. Y'all saw firsthand how people would gravitate towards her
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anytime we went anywhere, and that's how she was always. She was that
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mom at the school. If you heard laughter and a group of women were
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around somebody, you knew she was there. That was her. And you
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know, when I was thinking about her today, even just driving up here,
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I thought her her message was so simple and so clear. She just
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she wanted to make people happy, make them laugh. She wanted to urge
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people to do better, to be better, to live better. Then we
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started here with you guys. She felt this higher purpose to what we were
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doing and felt like that we should be the voice for American mamas everywhere.
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I think part of the word that's coming to mind here is courage. Yes,
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she wanted she wanted other mamas, yes, to have more courage.
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One to get involved in politics, to look and see what's actually going on,
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and two to then speak up and talk about it. And really,
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in many ways she did that for you. Folks may not know the story,
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but when we first started the show, Lewis said, hey, I've
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got this person. I wonder we should have the American mamas. I've got
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someone who I wanted to do it. And he came to you. He
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said, Terry, I want you to be the American Mama. And You're
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like, oh, no, not me, I'm not the one. I
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know somebody and you brought in Denise. But it was Denise who said,
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no, you're going to do this with me, right right. And that's
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what she did in her life. She made everybody first of all, and
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you guys were at her funeral, you recognize that she made. She had
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a thousand best friends, right, They were each best in their area of
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her life. I would have to say that was the second largest funeral I've
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ever been to. It as many people just wanting And that's the thing about
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a funeral is that it's it's people who actually want to be there, yeah,
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to say goodbye. And that was That was a big church, and
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it was packed. It was packed, and people love her and but but
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I was I was struck by the fact that every one of us, all
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the women in there, she made each of us feel like that we were
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just so special, like we were her best friend. She had a black
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belt in making people feel special. That was her thing. And if there's
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anything that I can learn from her, it's to that, you know,
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cast a wide net is you don't have to just have this is just my
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one friend, you know, this is my only one. She made everybody
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feel so special. And the thing that I noticed were her very best friends,
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the ones that she grew up with. They were the same way like
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I don't know if it was that generation she went to Woodlawn and the Knights
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had this special thing, you know, going on in high school. That
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high school is so special. But I think about all like her last couple
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of months, it's almost like she had resigned to this knowledge somehow, an
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etherel knowledge that this was probably I gotta tell the story. I gotta tell
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the story. So I actually at the funeral, I was talking with a
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friend of hers that was driving her down to Houston, Susan, and she
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was driving down to Houston, and they would pray all the time. Yes.
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And one time, on one of the trips down, and this was
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probably October November, Susan said, you know what, we made this.
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This may not work, that's all she said, This may not work.
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In Denise's immediate response was, well, then we need to change our prayer
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and we need to pray that it's okay, that we're okay with it not
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working. Wow, I mean, And from then on she she didn't she
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didn't bemoan, she didn't complain about where she was all still complaining because Governor
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John Bell Edwards shut down the state of Louisiana. She missed her doctor's appointment
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because of because he decided that cancer treatments cancer screenings were not essential, so
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she missed that in twenty twenty. By the time she got back in her
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cancer was now stage four, So thanks John Bell Edwards for that. But
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Denise didn't go down that path. She said, I'm just gonna change my
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prayer and I'm going to pray that it's okay. That's courageous woman I've ever
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known, and we miss her deeply. But we're also glad to have your
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sister on the show. Thank you, and she will be back tomorrow.
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If you like to ask her American Mama's a question, go to our website
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Americanground Radio dot com slash mamas and click on the ask the Mama's button.
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Terry Netteville, thank you, so much. Thank you Kimberly Brotherson. We'll
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be back and we miss Denise.