Miss you Mom...

I've been feelin a little blue these past few days, thinking ahead to tomorrow -it will be my first Mother's Day without my mom. It's been 10 months since she died and almost daily I catch myself wishing I could call her to give her the scoop about Andrew's first 'real' girlfriend, or to ask about a recipe or just for advice on how to keep the nasty old earwigs out of my planters... our daily chats are definitely one of the things I miss the most. But it's not all sad stuff, I crack up when I catch myself using one of her silly sayings and think what a kick she'd get out of it and I smile each time I look out my kitchen window and see the new leaves on her memorial tree -knowing how impressed she would be with the beautiful deep burgundy of the new growth that is now gradually turning to a bright spring green as the leaves continue to grow and fill in the still small canopy. We have an abundance of birds that come to eat from the many feeders we have stationed around the yard, they love the tree and I can hardly wait untill it's branches are sturdy enough to support a feeder for them -mom would love that too.


I've finally framed the last photo I got of her -it's from last Christmas and she's sporting a festive red sweater and a great big smile. It sits on my desk, right next to my computer monitor -I get a kick out of seeing her there smiling back at me everyday. She's never far from my thoughts.


Today when I went down the road to get the mail, there was a small package waiting for me. My first thought was that it must be something for Jack or maybe it was from one of my scrapbooking buddies... but then I saw that the return address was from my Aunt June and Aunt Ruby in Tennessee. Some of you might remember that my mom lived with them the last few years of her life. I have always thought the world of each of them but I will never be able to describe how much love, respect and gratitude I have for their compassion and all the tender loving care they gave my mom -they were completely dedicated to her. They were, literally, the answer to so many prayers. After Mom died, Aunt June and Aunt Ruby took me aside and made it a point to tell me that they knew they could never take her place but they would be there for me on her behalf. {sniff}

So, fast forward to today, when I open the package and find a card and a small white box tied with a gold bow and shimmery stars.







The card read:


Dear Lisa,

The string of pearls in rememberance of the Mother gone, but not forgotten.

Love from Ruby and June.