I'm watching the NCAA tournament as I'm preparing to write this (St. Mary's upsets Villanova & busts my bracket!) I realize that my mother could have cared less about basketball. Unless my brother was playing – then it was the most important game in town.
Sunday is the 5th anniversary of her death from kidney cancer. Her tumor was found in early 2004. She had a kidney removed in April, and then the cancer showed up in her liver in November. She was gone the following March.
We had a pretty typical mother/daughter relationship. Love, hate, & all those other lovely messy emotions in between. She was my best friend and, quite simply, the center of our family's universe. Even after Dr. M & I married we merely orbited around the sun that was her. Her death sent all of us reeling, trying to find something to grab hold of. I think we've settled back down again, five years later. But there's a loss there. There always will be.
.jpg)
4th grade - one of the first of many perms in her life!
.jpg)
Vamping it up
.jpg)
High School Prom
.jpg)
I think she looks very Jackie O in this picture. That's me & my little brother with her.
.jpg)
Reading Good Housekeeping magazine - there was always an issue in our house!
.jpg)
This is "The Look." She hated getting her picture made (get over it Mom!). This one makes me cry every time I see it because it's just her. That look is my mother.
.jpg)
Here we are on a cruise just before she was diagnosed. She was a nut.
A memorial birdbath at my dad's house.
Jeanine Wallace
June 19, 1942 - March 21, 2005
Love you Mom
What a sweet, sweet tribute Dana. Sounds like she was a very special lady. :c)
ReplyDeleteI was not close to my mother so I have always envied that. My daughter and I are close though so I get to experience it on the other end.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Jayne--this is a beautiful tribute.
ReplyDeleteMothers are daughters' best friend, but when we realize that they're gone.
ReplyDeleteJudging by the pictures your Mom was good looking ,a good housewife and a good mother. May her soul rest in Peace!
Lovely! She looks like a nut of the best kind--great that you got to cruise together. I can't get my mom to get excited about one, so I guess I'll be content to hang out with her in other places. There's never enough time, though, and I absolutely dread the day I lose her. She's my rock.
ReplyDeleteBlessings on her, her memory, and all that you cherish about her.
I just love the picture of you and your mom before the cruise - such radiant happiness! My own mom is still with us but have done well to remind me that I should treasure every minute of time I'm able to have with her. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThese pics are great. What an honoring tribute you have written here, with rich layers and vulnerable honesty.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this, Bug. My own mother's anniversary is coming up in July, 13 years. I need to start looking out some special photos to share, too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet remembrance of your mom. Such complicated relationships we have with our moms! (And that's also turning out to be the case with my daughter.)
ReplyDeleteMy mom's birthday was October and she passed away in September so I always get a little melancholy in the fall. Mine also hated having her picture taken and, as a result, we have very few. Although I hate having mine taken, I'm trying to be better about it for my kids' sakes.
Dear The Bug,
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that you would share your mother's life with your readers.
I feel privileged to get to know her and you a little better.
Sincerely,
Ann T. Hathaway
What a wonderful tribute to your mother. I love the birdbath idea. I may use that one.
ReplyDeleteThis was an absolutely wonderful post, Dana. It was a privilege to read, truly.
ReplyDeleteIt is such a wrenching thought, that someone so loved and special was taken from you...yet, it's such a gift to have had the person in a life. That you remember her with such love, and share that with others is a true tribute to your mom.
Someday we will all be in the position of being gone, and remembered. May we all have someone to love and honor us so, and moreover, may we endeavor to deserve such love, every day of our lives.
What a lovely, touching tribute Dana! I love those pictures. She looked like someone I'd want to know.
ReplyDeletewhat a sweet tribute to your mom. it made me think of my own mom when you wrote 'the first of many perms'...my mother cannot live without a perm, must have been their generation. it's special that you got to take a cruise together, what a special memory. :D
ReplyDeleteI just had to take a peek at your blog (I see you commenting here and there on Goldenrod's blog) and read this post. What a beautiful tribute to your mother.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful tribute....you're a lucky gal.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful, open, honest face with a FUN just glowing around her like a halo!
ReplyDelete