Sharon Jeanette Madrid

Her full name was Sharon Jeanette Madrid, born on December 11th , 1959. Today is her birthday and she would have been 57. Born in Gallup, New Mexico, her mother is Amalia and father was Raymond. Her 4 siblings are Mary, Ray, Jacqueline and Gina. A husband, Joe, of 28 years and two daughters, myself and Sharyn.

Over her life she lived in many places throughout different states. From New Mexico she wanted to start a new life and moved to California, from California there was Hawaii and Washington. She couldn’t stay away from California, though. I mean, who can?! We’ve been here living in Bonita for the last 17 years and on our ranch for 13. My mom loved helping my dad feed the animals. Every evening I’d see her out there following dad around, feeding her chickens and rabbits. Imagine this beautiful lady walking around the ranch tossing a bunch of veggies and being cute. Besides helping feed the animals, she was an amazing wife. There was never a day that she wouldn’t make sure my dad had hot dinner right when he got home. That was priority. If me or Sharyn would invite her somewhere, she would say, “maybe later but I have to feed dad first!” The house was always perfectly clean and decorated and she would be so proud. If we ever made a noise in the kitchen here she’d come ready to make sure we weren’t dirtying it up. She would make sure all the bills were paid and errands run.

Besides being a wonderful wife, she was also a gorgeous wife; hair, makeup, outfit and nails. She made sure she was always looking sharp. I mean always! She would even go to bed with her makeup on in case there was an emergency in the middle of the night. And those nails, she loved having super elaborate nails done and telling us, “These took 4 hours!” Another thing she loved was her jewelry. She’d say, “I like bling.” Showing it off to everyone, but she would also give it away with no hesitation, because just as beautiful as she was on the outside, she was on the inside.

My mom was extremely giving, caring and empathetic. She would often want to help people in need and get really sad when a tragedy occurred. If she knew someone was having a hard time with anything she would try to help. Always wanting to make people smile, she would always have something funny to say. When we went out to eat or to a fast food restaurant she would always joke with the attendant. I don’t think we ever went to KFC without her asking to see the Colonel. I’m sure you all remember her making you laugh. There definitely wasn’t a family event that was wasn’t cracking jokes at and making everyone happy.

She was also a strong woman of God and shared her love of God with everyone, in real life and on the Internet. Avidly she would preach the word. She was so genuinely worried about everyone’s life after death and wanted to help people find God and go to heaven. She studied scripture and would pray for everyone. She always told me she had a personal relationship with God.

Another major role in her life was music. I’ve never met another person who loved music more then my mom. I’m pretty sure if she were born in my generation she would have been a DJ. Constantly she would have youtube open playing songs and there wasn’t a one genre that she stuck to, she loved it all. We would joke that she was pop pop video, because besides loving the song she would always have these little facts about it. Like, this song is by so and so and he died in a crazy plane crash. Growing up she frequented concerts and would make sure she was in the front. I’ve heard tons of stories of all the singers she’s met or experiences she’s had. Hand in hand, with music there’s dancing. She could dance for hours. A couple years ago my friend got married at the ranch and mom danced until Midnight. She would tell me she made up a dance to a certain song that was on. I will always think of her when I hear music.

It is really hard for me to believe this is all happening. She was proud of me, told me everything and loved me so much. I love her so much. One time, I did a silly dance and she said, “wow Gaby,” in a really encouraging way. It stuck, I would intentionally do silly things and she would say it. There are multiple people who will say, “wow gaby,” to me now everytime I do something silly. I’m going to miss those little moments. I’m going to miss her, everyday for the rest of my life. She would always tell us, though, that she didn’t want everyone being “all sad” when she died and wanted everyone to celebrate her life. So let’s honor that wish and celebrate her life together and she will live on through our memories.

The Lord’s Prayer

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Our Father who art in Heaven,

Hallowed be Thy name.

Thy Kingdom come.

Thy Will be done

on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day, our daily bread

And forgive us our debts

as we forgive our debtors against us.

Lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the Kingdom,

and the Power and

the Glory, forever.

Amen.