Memories

Going through Mom's things is a long walk down Memory Lane looking at pictures and more pictures of family members I have not met and kids who are now grown with their own kids! My goodness, we have a large family!! I plan to sort these thousands of pictures into buckets of time - similar to how I want to organize her life story. This will be a major project that will last well into spring and perhaps beyond!

Yesterday we said goodbye to Pat & Bob and today I'll say goodbye to Kelly.I need to get away, gain a fresh perspective, walk on the beach, and take a break from being here in this house alone so I decided to work a week in Miami from 1/24 - 2/1 -- Mom's birthday is during that time and winter is gray and glooomy here in Charlote. Everywhere I go, I see places I took Mom. Simple things like going to the post office or grocery store were a major event for her. Every day I went to see her at the hospital I drove up Park Road and doing so now brings tears and sadness that I am not going to see her again. Yeah, I need to get away for a little bit. February weather is usually ok here and by end of Feb, spring weather will just start to arrive. By then, my spirit should be refreshed and my outlook less gloomy. Kelly and I decided to see a movie yesterday and we both like George Clooney so we went to see The Descendents, which was not such a good choice. We did not check the synopsis before buying our ticket and the story centered around how he was coping with his wife having a boating accident and lying in a coma in the hospital. Not conducive to uplifting the spirit after the last several weeks!

I promise my posts will get better. Right now I am just sad, but I know I will heal. The grief will pass. Each in our own way, we will process our memories and cherish the happy times with Mom/Grammy. We have to give ourselves a little time and allow ourselves to feel the emotions of loss and sadness. This lady was a huge influence on us and we've never known a day when she was not a part of our lives until now. So we are in an adjustment period and each of us will deal with this in our own way. My way is through writing and so I ask for your patience with my tears. They will abate in time and when we get together as a big family to celebrate her life, there will be lots of laughs!

We still want to have some kind of a formal thing to remember her. She did not want a wake, or a funeral or a memorial service at all! She was so adamant about it. So we'll have a party and call it a "Celebration of Her Life" or something like that where we can laugh and remember the funny things she did and said. We had planned her 90th birthday bash for June this year at Patti's place; perhaps we ought to keep that date on the calendar and all gather in remembrance. Hey, we might as a family decide to do it annually from then on. Post a comment about what you think about it.