7 Years Ago

7 years ago today the world lost a wonderful person, friend, sister, mom, and grammie.

My mom was the bomb.

She really was.

As naive as she was at times (and sometimes I do shake my head at how naive she was, lol), she was a strong woman.  She raised 3 girls all by herself, with virtually no help from our fathers (yes, you saw that right, father"s".  "naive moments", but God love her for trying).

Yes we struggled, that's for sure, but she did it on her own.  She didn't go on welfare (well, she did when my younger sister was born, but got off of it quick because she got virtually nothing and got more money from an actual job).

We all learned the meaning of being grateful for what we did have.

And we were all truly grateful for having her.

A family member once told me that they couldn't understand why we (my sisters and myself) would want to remember our mom on such a tragic day, the day she died.   And I can understand their point of view, but for us, we are remembering the last time we EVER saw her.  I mean, wouldn't you want to remember, forever, the last time you ever saw the most important person in your life?  The day you said goodbye to them?  The last time you ever touched their hand, memorizing every inch of their face, the face that you counted on, relied on, came to for comfort?

So that's what we do.

And yes, it IS sad that it comes 6 days before Christmas.  That sucks big time. Because she LOVED Christmas.   As you saw in my previous post, we have decorations of hers that she had at Christmas.

When we were younger, she would make a lot of our presents too.  Staying up until 2 in the morning sewing clothes, PJ's, robes, etc.  We never knew either that she stayed up that late.

But it is what it is.  And we deal with it, and we get through it.  Every year.  And then we go on.

Each one of us has the same tattoo as well.

Her signature.

It varies with each one of us of some sort though.  For example, my one sister, who got it first, has her signature inside a banner tattooed on her.  The one above, is mine.   My other sister just has her signature.  This is something that we each remember so vividly.  We LOVED her signature.  It was always so precise and neat.   We always tried to "forge" it, but never could.  (Of course I can do her signature perfectly now, I even write like her now, but I don't need it anymore to forge a note to get out of school anymore, lol)

And each one of us can see parts of her in each one of us.

For example, both my sisters have her hands.

My one sister looks a lot like her.

We each have some of her mannerisms.

One of my sisters and I have her feet.

I write like her now (again, wish I could have had that talent back in high school...............)

And yes, I do still miss her terribly.  Especially during the hard times.

From The Heart

The Original Mrs. Claus

In my opinion, the best presents are the ones that come from the heart.

Oh sure, there are those presents where you are like WOW, I can't BELIEVE you gave me that!  That is SO AWESOME!

Yea, everyone loves to get those.

But the presents that I will always remember the most?

The ones that are given from the heart.  Where you put your heart into it.

Whether it's something you looked high and low for, knowing that that person would absolutely LOVE it, whether it's something you made, or whether it's something you did for that person.

I love to give.

I love to see the smiles on their faces.

I love to make things for people as well.

Every little stitch, every little bit of fabric, or the photo I created.

Almost 7 years ago my mom passed away.

6 days before Christmas.

I can't even remember what was in those presents that she gave that were under the tree that year.

You know what I kept?

The tag that had her writing on it.

That's what I remember.

Her writing.

That's what I kept.

When my sisters and I went through her belongings and divided up the decorations there was Mrs. Claus.

She made this as a decoration for our house one year.

I always loved it. Correction....we ALL loved it.  But that was the only really one thing I wanted.  So my sisters let me have it.

But I knew my one sister truly loved it too.

So I set out on a mission.

Through ebay.

And found the exact pattern that my mom had to make it, many years ago.

And I made my sister one for Christmas.  And I was able to find most of the same exact fabric that my mom used, to make the original one years ago.

And it made me so happy to make it for her and surprise her and give it to her for Christmas.

And it's not how much it cost me to make it, it was about giving her something, from my heart, that would bring a smile on her face.   And believe me, it shocked the hell out of her when she first saw it, lol.

And, truly, that's all I want for Christmas.  Happiness and something from the heart.