She left to make Heaven More Beautiful

Of his maternal lineage, the newborn warrior-prince descends from a family from West Virginia who found work in the steel industry during the height of segregation in the United States. In the small town of Weirton, West Virginia, in the 1920s, his great, great grand parents, settled there from Mississippi and Georgia. His great grandparents, Ruth and Clifford Branlett gave birth to nine children. The sixth child is JoAnn Branlett who gave birth to Journey Ma’at. His Mama, Journey Ma’at grew up to become a clinical therapist, earn her Bachelor of Social Work, her Master of Social Work, and her Master of Business Administration. She is a practitioner of Ma’at-Sumu. This is his maternal lineage.

------Today, his mother went to look over him from the other side.

My beloved wife has made Heaven more beautiful today as she passed on peacefully in her sleep under sedation and pain medicines. She lost her fight against breast cancer and lung cancer, but she won so much more. She won my love for eternity. She touched the hearts of everyone who had ever known her. It hurts seeing such a beautiful person leave the Earth. She was a great mother. One of her greatest fears was not seeing her son grow up. She was afraid of the idea of him not knowing her. I will make sure he knows her. Her memories will be spoken of, yet her presence cannot be replaced. He will know that all that is good about him came from her. I will make sure he knows that he was the center of his mom's world.

I met Journey Ma'at (Dionne Branlett) when she walked into my combat skills/training class. She said she wanted to get in shape and remedy some health problems she had been fighting for years. She got in shape. She was able to bike and run for miles. She learned some good defensive moves. She had a great roundhouse kick. After we had our son, she never totally got back in the same shape she was in before. She had cancer smoldering in her body. She fought all the way to the very end, but the family had to let her go peacefully because her body was being overtaken by disease at the end. As much as it hurt to let her go, as many times as I broke down in that hospital, I didn't want her to suffer or feel anymore pain.

Such a beautiful person left the world, but she left it more beautiful than before she was born into it. I will always speak to her spirit. She will always be with me. She will always be with our son. I will appreciate the wind a little more because it might be her gentle hands across my face. I will appreciate the waves a little more because it might be her telling me to rub her feet. I will appreciate the sun a little more because it might be her wonderful smile, her warm laughs, her unconditional hugs. She has gone from this physical existence, but she will be here in so many other ways. And she left the world the most special gift that a mother could leave the world. Before her transition, she left a beautiful baby boy. It was her way of making sure she would be remembered.

I cry, I moan, I weep - but don't feel sorry for me or her. She spent her last years happy that I was her husband. She spent her last 16 months happy that she was a mother. She lived out three of her greatest dreams - she was a mother, she was a wife, and she was in love. Only if I could take her place I surely would. In all, I have loved her so deeply. I slept in hospital chairs for weeks by her bedside. I didn't want her to wake up for one second and fell lonely. If I could do it all over again with her - I would. And I know her, and I tell you, if she could do it all over again - she would. We had a special gift between us, and I hope others are able to as well. People, love life, every bit of it. Treasure those who love you. Spend your days as my wife did bringing goodness into the world.

Journey Ma'at, my beautiful wife for all eternity, I love you, I love you, I love you...