A Note to Two Ladies I Adore

Mom, Nisey, Me and Ron


Today is an anniversary, a bit of a sad one.
Yesterday was a birthday, a very happy one.
Mom, Nise and Me many moons ago
So I want to write a love note to the two ladies I am speaking of.

Let's start with my little sister. What can I say about my Nisey? Denise is a sassy, funny, pretty, smart, witty lady,a talented artist, just a person you go to when you need an answer or a considered opinion. I love my sister dearly, she is truly a part of me. In many ways, she has always been the one I looked up to for guidance, even though she is the youngest and I am the oldest.
Happy Birthday Nise, I love you very much!..Sam and Her Auntie Nisey Cookin' up a Storm

And today is the anniversary of my Mom's passing on.

Mom the Hipster at the beach

Mom, words fail to describe how very much I miss you. We all do. It's a feeling that never leaves me. I see you in so many ways, in my daughters face, in hummingbirds that flit around the flowers, in the flowers themselves, in butterfly wings and the shifting moods of the sky. I know you are there, with me. I carry you always, right here in my heart.
I love you Mom, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
Jazmine, Denise, Mom, Debbie and Sam at Mom's 77th Birthday Celebration

This is from a brochure from the hospice we used, I think it sums up the journey out of this earth pretty well:

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side
spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and
starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty
and strength. I stand and watch her until at length
she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the
sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: "There, she is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large
in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my
side and she is just as able to bear her load of
living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at
the moment when someone at my side says: "There, she
is gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
"Here she comes!"

And that is dying.
Henry Van Dyke

Hug the ones you love, tell them how much you adore them,
Go on!
What on Earth are you waiting for?
love deb