A year..............

This day marks one year that we have lived in this world without my mother - Barbara Allen.



It has been a difficult year of firsts...

Lane’s pointe shoes
Birthdays
Holidays
Starting my blog
Starting etsy
Nutcracker
Arnold
Dominique’s graduation
Big Band
Making new friends
Another Habitat House

...and as it draws to an end I realize that the seconds, thirds, fourths and even fifths will be hard also.

There is just so much to miss about my mom...

Here she is happy to show off one of her many dance costumes...

Beautiful in high school....

All dressed up at the Senior Ball.

She was a daughter,

a wife,

a mom,

a grammy,

a friend to so many...

and she did it all so well.


Mom loved the Ballet...
She loved grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup...
She loved meeting new people and keeping in touch with old friends...
She loved being a grammy...
She loved making quilts (and she loved giving them to people)...
She loved talking on the phone...
She loved cooking (and we loved eating what she cooked!)...
She loved water skiing, ice skating, and when she was younger horse back riding...




And, she loved all of us...and she did that well also...

My dad, Lyle, said this at the Party we threw for her...

 "Barbara knew instinctively what relationships needed to be nurtured, and how important it was to have them kept alive and growing over the years."

   
I have realized that when someone loves you well, even when they are gone you feel that love...and that love gives you the courage to move ahead and do your best to live your best life.

Mom could be silly...

she could be elegant...

She knew how to have fun...

 She was loving and nurturing...

She showed us by example...or, sometimes when she felt we needed a bit more reinforcement, with a talking to...how to go about living our best lives.

Thank you Mom...I will think of you and do my best...

xoxo     Elizabeth

PS...


I want to share a little story with you...shortly after my mom passed away I discovered a blog...

Enjoying The Small Things...

It is a beautiful blog by a young (in years - older in spirit) mom.  When I first started reading this blog it was just after she had her second child.  For several reasons this child settled into my heart...

the main one being that she was born just two days after my mom passed away...

I connected immediately to her -  feeling that this special little one had a connection with my mom.  I read Kelle Hampton's blog of coming to terms with the fact that this baby, Nella Cordelia, has Down Syndrome.  She did not know that the baby she was carrying had this extra chromosome and her blog was so honest and loving that it struck a chord around the world.

These are photos from Kelle's blog - you should take a look because she is an amazing photographer

With Nella Cordelia's first birthday approaching (January 22) Kelle is attempting to raise money for the NDSS (National Down Syndrome Society) as a special way to celebrate.  The response has been amazing and she has surpassed her first modest goal of $15,000 and is quickly approaching $75,000!!!

Because of this connection I feel between Nella and my mom I donated a small amount in my mom's name. 

http://ndss.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=461377&supid=318966917

Another note on this connected feeling...when my grandfather passed away many years ago I was working at a fruit stand in Emeryville.

The man I worked for had a daughter who was pregnant - on the day that I learned that my grandfather has passed away during the night I went in to work and my boss told me that his daughter had given birth the night before...it was a very difficult birth and Mother and baby were in danger for some time...but miraculously both had survived and were doing well.  So my grandfather has passed, but these two were doing well...I couldn't help but think that his spirit had something to do with the miracle that had occurred....and I felt the same connection that I do to little Nella Cordelia.