Time goes by....

Two years ago on the 25th of April, my Mom passed away! It was actually a Sunday, not Wednesday like today.  Her funeral was on Wednesday.  It was a beautiful day!  Sunny and warm, after a week of cold and rain like we have recently experienced.  Much like the Sunday she passed, it was dreary and rainy.  On Saturday, this past, we celebrated my Dad's 82nd birthday.  I found myself strangely emotional as the day passed, she died in the evening.  At the time not relating it to my Mom's passing.  But I wonder if in fact as we sat around the table at his celebration and shared some old family memories if in fact my Mom wasn't right there with us!  I think maybe she was! As I believe she is with me today, all of us really.
She's never really very far from our hearts and our thoughts.  That's the way it should be when our Mom's are no longer with us except where they truly never leave....our hearts!

So today, if you're lucky enough to still have your Mom with you please give her a hug.  If you are not close enough by....give her a call.  You'll be glad you did!  I'm hugging my Mom right now!

Love & Miss you Mom!

Today Would Have Been....

Mom's 80th Birthday!

As some of you may know, I lost my Mom on April 25th of this year.

So here we are with another first!

And it would have been a huge celebration in our family.

A birthday, in my heart, I know we would have celebrated as we did Dad's, the weekend Mom passed away. With everyone gathering and sharing a meal with cake and ice cream.

But, sadly that sort of celebration will not take place for Mom!

Instead, my "celebration" for her will be in my thoughts thru-out the day.
My plan was to go to the cemetery today and take a nice bouquet of flowers
and just spend some time tending her grave and talking to her.
But, the weather is not cooperating with me today with the wind, rain and cold.

Mom would understand I'm sure!

Living almost 2 hrs away makes it difficult to also join my sister's and my father
in an evening meal to celebrate as a family. So on Saturday when the weather is a bit nicer,
or supposed to be anyway, my husband and I will make a trip down and visit the cemetery then.

So here we are at 6 months already!
It still doesn't seem real
that she is not with us anymore,
except of course and always will be
in our hearts!

I'd like to share the poem that was in the funeral announcement:

God saw you getting tired,
and a cure was not to be,
So he put his arms around you
and whispered, "Come to Me."
With tearful eyes we watched you,
and saw you pass away,
And though we loved you dearly,
we could not make you stay.
A golden heart stopped beating,
hard working hands at rest.
God broke our hearts to prove to us,
He only takes the best!

Happy 80th Birthday Mom!
I know you are smiling and laughing today,
with your friends and family members
who also passed before you.
I miss you and love you dearly!

I Got It From My Momma....

Okay....so along with the passing of our Mom, comes....for some unknown reason to me and a couple other sister's, the need to clear her things. My Dad....and I can only fathom why, one of my sister's believe this needs to be done now. Actually, they started weeks ago....and only after some fussing from me and another sister, have kind of put a halt to it....for now, Thankfully. You see, WE are just not ready, to "box up" and Goodwill things! My Dad has always been one of a, get rid of what's not being used kind of guy and my sister has that gene.

Always cleaning and getting rid of!

So of course, when I do get down to see Dad....I check out the "box" and see what I'd rather NOT go to Goodwill. This drying rack was one of them and I was looking for a few "vintagey" type things to decorate with in my laundry room....I think it fit the bill!


It is a metal ring with the clothespins permanently attached. The metal has patina-ed perfectly with that white-ish coating that metal gets.

Dad said, "I don't need it, I don't hang "panties" to dry!

I also acquired some extra clothespins, which I need to find a special jar or bowl to display them in. For now I hung this on my vintage towel drying rack, along with a brand new rooster towel purchased at my local Thrift Store for .99 cents.

My Mom's dearest, closest friend Klara, was German. She stitched things for my Mom on occasion in her language. Of course, unless told (and remembered by Mom) we could never tell what things meant. One thing I know of, was a pillow Klara made my Mom to hold after Mom had heart surgery. So when she coughed she had something soft to hold onto against her chest. I have not seen that pillow and hope that one of my sister's has it or maybe it is still tucked away and has not been found. But, on my last visit down I did rescue this from the Goodwill box and immediately claimed it as mine. My only problem is, I have no idea what it says! Maybe one of you could tell me. Then I could stitch it on the backside so I can remember what it says!

This beautiful pillow is nicely aged. The red is still a great red and the background is sort of a tea aged white. How could anyone, seriously, get rid of something like this of our Mom's?! Not me!

I do have a few other things that I have acquired. I don't have them placed quite yet in my Home where I want them, so I will share those another time. As the year passes on, I am sure there will be other things. Mom was a giver and a collector, not necessarily of valuable things, but like alot of us, things that interested her. Some don't hold those things to heart, maybe in the way I do. Thru the years, I have been given, by Mom, some of the more precious things to me. But, there are still things, that maybe are forgotten, that may now find there Home with me!

Just a little side note. My Mom's dear friend Klara passed just a few month's before Mom. We like to think they are together now, again, laughing, joking and talking, just like they used to! My Mom's heart was broken when Klara passed and it seems that's when she started going down-hill herself. I believe, she missed her friend terribly, just like we miss her now!