I'm sad today

Well, yesterday I just felt tired.  I couldn't take a little nap because I wasn't sleepy, just tired.  And, the sun was shining brightly, too.  I chalked it up to my MOM being gone now for 8 years (02-23-03).  It still just seems like yesterday. Please have patience while I reflect on Audrey.
We all deal with death differently, yet, alike.  Growing up, my Mom and I weren't really close to each other.  I always loved her, but I connected more with my Dad.  We seemed to have the sensitivities and social abilities to keep us close.  As years went on, my Dad passed away, my Mom had heart surgery, and we decided together that it would be best if she moved closer to her children (here in Phoenix and Mesa). The most logical one would be myself and my husband since our kids were grown and out of the home.  So, we had a home built to fit our (3) needs and Mom became part of our home.  What a blessing!  Not always agreeing with each other, but the fun, great times outweighed the "moody" times.  She got along so well with Lee. And I sometimes think they liked each other more than me.  I can still stand in the hallway looking into her living area and see her right there.  I will pass by the bathroom and smell a scent she liked.
We started into the stamping zone together.  A friend had shown us a stamping catalog and then, we attended the ultimate Stampin' Up! "workshop".  Oh my goodness!  That did it.  We changed the guest bedroom into our craft room.  Before long, we each had our own tools, cardstock, inks.  One to share was not going to work.  I muddled along and did cards here and there.  She was a creative talented stamper.  She also HAND-quilted (as she always put it over and over and over again - "machine quilting is not quilting"; they shouldn't allow quilting to be attached to the word machine").  She is right.  If you quilt by hand, you know exactly what goes into it and how each stitch is done exact and precise to make the pattern complete.  She could cook, bake, quilt, crochet, and sew, and measure anything in no time flat.
So, her health issues caught up to her and she would say "I did this to myself.  All those years of smoking".) She knew and stood to take the consequences.  I am sharing a few of her pigtures.  And, I am going to take pigtures of her quilts to post later.  I think you will like them.
Thank you for taking a little of your time to pay a small tribute to my Mom
 Audrey (09/26/1924 - 02/23/2003)

She would laugh so much.  I am with her in the pigture on the right. The top pigture shows her in her one of her favorite flowers (the Tombstone rose) and I kept telling her to move back and she would and finally said she couldn't because the bees were going to get her.  I felt so bad but she never said anything until she couldn't take it anymore.  I got the pigture and got her out of there. We laughed and laughed about that and I think she might have laughed so hard she wet her pants.  Not me (at least that time).  ROTFLOL.
And, I have to mention all of the wonderful people who gave me support and allowed me to share my inner most thoughts of Audrey.   I think it helped them to deal with some of their griefs they had to endure somewhere along the way.  Happy pigtrails to you, pinkpigy@aol.com
http://www.janerappleyea.stampinup.net/