In Loving Memory of My Mom

As many of you read Erin's blog, you know that 2 weeks ago, my Mom passed away after a two year battle with the end stages of her 40-year disease, scleroderma/Raynaud's Syndrome. For those of you who never met my mom, she had a strong will to live and as my dad said "a lot of spunk". Two years ago this month, she had her leg removed which began a chain of medical events that began an inch-by-inch slide down a hill, that in this world she could not climb. And through it all, up until the last day, she kept her spirit up by talking about life around her. She wanted to live, but for her, life began to die the day she began sitting in that wheelchair. To her, living meant doing and doing was cooking, making pies, going out to dinner with Dad, going to Jeff's or my house, singing in the choir or going to church, joining the ladies at coffee hour (eventhough she drank tea!), taking Buddy for a walk, and so on and so on. When scleroderma began to attack her lungs and heart, life revolved around the chair by the window and the telephone. Dad and Buddy were her constant companions, both of them taking VERY GOOD care of her. Thanks Dad, for your endless devotion to mom's needs, which were many. Anyway, here are a few pictures to show a little bit of my mom's life. Somewhere in the 60's, we had "King". Mom loved dogs, but King did not like people (other than our family and Bruce).
Mom had three best friends growing up and here they are at our wedding in 1974: her cousin Martha, Mary Richards and Jeannette Hill. Martha & Jeannette are both up in heaven with Mom, hopefully having their own "Red Hat Society".

Mom loved being outside, especially in her swing, and especially with a grandchild or two with her! That's Ashleigh on her lap with the twins beside her, Joe & Liz on the sides and Michelle in the back.
Mom LOVED her grandchildren and loved to help in any way! There were always plenty of little girl dresses to be tied, or shoes or coats to put on! She loved to bargain shop (or just shop!) for all those grandkids and we were blessed with many special giftsMom loved to hold those babies and she had plenty! This is Liz with the hand -smocked dress that Mom had made for her, Michelle & Erin. They were each smocked in a different color and she made matching sweaters to coordinate.
The grandkids enjoyed Mom's sense of humor! She would let them do the craziest things! Here Michelle is pretending to cut Mom's always well kept hairdo! Notice the comb & bow Chelle has stuck in there AND the look on Michelle's face as Mom calmly relaxes!
Easter was always a very special time as we all gathered at Calvary to hear Mom (and the choir) sing the Halleluja (that's not spelled right, I know, but don't feel like looking it up) Chorus and the kids looked forward to getting the balloons they passed out. We then always posed for Debbie to take our group picture. But we had to get one of the adults, too. We didn't plan to all wear blue-except for maybe Mom & Dad. They used to coordinate a lot!

Here's Mom at some function she had to attend, making it fun!
Another fun pose of Mom at my house!
Mom loved to dress for the occasion! Easter vests & sweaters, Christmas (her favorite!) sweaters, jewelry AND socks, as well as 4th of July, St. Patrick's Day, etc., etc. She even had a plastic goose in her yard at one time that was dressed for every season!
The 50th wedding anniversary surprise! All her family together and some special friends-what she enjoyed most in life (besides Buddy!)
Sitting down in the basement after the BIG Christmas Dinner and endless Gift-giving occasion! Wonderful memories, lots of laughs and tears, how do you capture one woman's life on a small blog? How do you sum up all your mom means to you? How do you move on, missing a vital piece of your life? You picture your Mom running in Heaven on two new legs and breathing with a healthy set of lungs and knowing that one day you'll be together again!