Remembering Loved Ones

This is a post I never thought I would be writing anytime soon. I have not posted since November 11th because my family has had a couple of losses back to back.

On November 12th, my husband of 21 years, lost his paternal grandfather. He is one of the people I was making a get well card for in the previous post. He had suffered a stroke, had some setbacks, and finally passed. My husband was out of town that week in North Carolina for work and received a call right after he checked his bags at the airport to fly back to Texas. Since he didn't have any clothes he continued on his flight and then caught a plane the next day, Friday to Indiana for his grandfather's funeral Saturday afternoon. My daughter and I wanted to go, but in the end decided to stay home. Our thoughts and prayers were with him and his family as they put his grandfather to rest. It has been a difficult year for that side of the family as my husband's mother passed away in April after being diagnosed with leukemia a month earlier.

Since I stayed home, I continued with my regular schedule and went to work on Saturday. I work at a bank, so I had to work in the morning and was off at 12:30. One of my coworkers had recently had back surgery, so I stopped at her house on the way home to drop off a card, flowers and sandwiches for lunch. We were able to have a nice visit and I was leaving I received a call that literally changed my life. It was my neighbor, whom I've never spoken with, calling from my mom's cell phone telling me to come home quickly there has been a minor emergency at my house. I knew when I answered the phone that something must have happened to my mother as my dad will not talk on a cell phone because he is hard of hearing and if it was my dad my mom would have called. (When we moved to Katy a year and a half ago we asked my parents to live with us.) As it turns out my mom had a bad accident falling down the stairs at my house and passed away. The call to my husband in Indiana was a shock to all. He was still at his grandfather's funeral when I called. It was almost too much to bear, but I tried to compose myself and help my dad.

The purpose of this post is to show you how I honored my mother, the woman who my stamping friends in Edinburg lovingly called "The Godmother" as she the main figure in our stamping group. One of my friends once told someone else to watch out or the card mafia would get you! Mom just had a way of sharing her enthusiasm that drew other people to her. So of course when I thought of her memorial, I knew I would hand make all the cards that had the information regarding her birth, death, etc. Here are a couple of pictures. I made 66 in all as I didn't know how many people to expect. As it turns out we had over 100 people there!

My mom was my biggest cheerleader. I miss her every day. I miss being able to say good bye to her in the mornings and to ask her how her day was when I get home. I know I will miss so many things as time passes, but I also have so many happy memories with her. I know she is now with her mom and dad, my husband's mom and grandfather. She is so happy to be with our Lord. She is now my guardian angel and I will reunite with her one day. Thank you to all my friends and family who have helped and comforted me during this difficult time.

With loving memories,

Diane