LBI…

Last week was our annual bike ride to LBI.  My brother started doing this ride 12 years ago with his two children.  Now my family tags along.  I do the ride one way and my husband does the ride the other way.  That way one of us can bring the car and the children.  It is a lot of fun to catch up with family and have some down time!

2009-08-20a.jpg

2009-08-20b.jpg

2009-08-20c.jpg

2009-08-20d.jpg

Things…..

How do we take our lives and put it in a box?  After the loss of my mother, I find myself doing just that over and over again.  It is a difficult thing.  To take an entire life and put the things about that life into boxes.  Boxes that are going to be given away to charity, boxes that will be sent to other loved ones, boxes that are going to be stored in new dark places, boxes that will be treasured for more generations……it is a difficult thing.  One of the boxes I have created is filled with some of my mother’s favorite jewelery.  My mother was not one for fancy items.  She loved simple things and handmade things.  These were some of her favorite things that she treasured.  Things that I can remember as a child touching and looking at with awe.  Things that she thought were special and now I think are special.  Things that my children can touch and look at and think of her and know how special she was….

2009-07-29.JPG

My Mom…..

This Father’s Day was a bit different than any other.  This Father’s Day was the day my mother died.

I am who I am because of my mom.  She gave me my incredible gift of creativity. She taught me to love art and to love the simple things in life.  She taught me that you don’t have to have a lot of money or a lot of things to enjoy life.  She taught me how to be patient, humble and caring….all in a quiet way.

My mom was one of my best friends.  I will miss her deeply.  I will miss her every day.  I will think of her often.

One of the things I am most grateful for is the time I spent with my mother.  I am also grateful for the time my children had with her.  I saw my mom often and spent many wonderful hours with her.  My children will always remember her laugh, her smile and her love.

She loved the simple things in life.  It didn’t take much to make my mom happy.  She was a wonderful person, a wonderful friend and a wonderful mom.

mom-color.jpg