One More Post About Mom

My mom, Estelle Brown, died on January 6. She was the only daughter of Doris and Neill Hartman; the sister of Aldean and Larry; the wife of Don; the mother of Doris, Ron and Sharri; the grandmother of Dylan, Nicole, Rebekah, Monica, Kelly, Josh, Meagan and Seth; and great-grandmother to Korbyn and my unborn grandson. She was everything to all of us and the kindest person we ever knew. To say that her family is heartsick is a gross understatement, but we are all relieved that Mom is no longer suffering. In fact, I'm thinking of Mom holding Bekah's hand right now. She called her illness vile, and it was.

I have some pictures to share with you. First is Mom in possibly her favorite role: Mom/Grandma cooks for the holidays. It's from a few Christmases ago, and she's holding what we lovingly call "red stuff" (only because she thought "red shit" was too vulgar ... she was right, of course), which is second only to my brother's favorite "orange crap". I believe that look is on her face because one of the grandkids asked, "Did you make orange crap, too?"

Next is Mom as Sun Princess for the Sun Bowl in the 50's. Isn't she pretty? My niece Meagan said that when she was little, she thought her grandma was a movie star. She saved some of her fabulous dresses from those days, and they were carefully used for Halloween. Wouldn't this make a great Glenda-Good-Witch-of-the-North dress?

Below is Mom as a little, little girl. I have this picture of her in my bedroom, and she's so cute I can hardly stand it. She reminds me of the sweet little kids at school. I think this could be about the age when my grandma got Mom to stop sucking her thumb by offering her very own rocking chair. Mom got the rocking chair and sat in it with her hands in her lap, staring at her thumb.

Some of you will ask about my dad. He's doing ok for now. Mom said from the beginning that she'd need a miracle, so she and Dad had time to talk about the future. She was a great coach and encourager. We've been with him a lot, but all the family left today. We'll call a lot and drop in to make sure all is well. He has a huge support system of friends in their church. They have plans, and that's a good thing. He is very involved in genealogy, and he wants to travel to see where some of our ancestors lived. Dad and Mom already traveled to Germany and Pennsylvania in the last couple of years, and I think he'll continue with some trips he had stopped planning.

I think another question you'll have is Mom's And They Sinned. She wasn't really feeling like stitching a lot of days, so I've been working on it when I visited their house since October. I picked it up again when we were all at the hospital, and now Sharri has it. She's almost finished (Sharri is one of those super-speedy stitchers). In our minds, it's the perfect gift for someone, but we'll see. I'll be sure to get a picture for you and fill you in on its future.

Thank you all again for your prayers, good thoughts and kind notes. It used to be hard for me to imagine how much comments from people I've never met would mean to me. Next time: stitchy talk and other regular stuff. Make some fun. Do it now.