My mom was 34 years old in this picture. That is exactly how old I am now. I look at her and she looks so young to me yet when I look at pictures of myself now I always think WOW I am looking old. How ironic. Since being an only child my mom and I were best friends. I loved to hang out with her. Mario likes to remind me how I used to cancel dates with him when we were in high school because I didn't want her to go grocery shopping by herself.
This week will be 12 years since I heard her voice say Amy Kathleen. Nobody calls me that anymore but she always did. My name was going to be Amber she told me once, but she decided I looked more like an Amy when I was born. Funny. This is the way I remember her now at this age. She was the happiest at this point in her life. She lost her battle to cancer at the young age of 46.
I thought I would list 12 things that remind me of her. So here it is:
1. Her smile, she had an amazing smile that was contagious.
2. Her whistle. She would stand in the kitchen washing dishes by hand whistling the whole time all kinds of tunes. I tried to learn but I'm not a very good whistler.
3. Beach Boys she had a lot of their records, yes I said records. This was the early 80's.
4. The TV series MASH we used to watch the reruns of it together at night. She liked it.
5. Bicycle, she loved to bike ride with my dad. We would ride to Woodland Park in my hometown every Sat. afternoon. I always went too. I now have her old bike.
6. Hamburger Helper, she actually loved it!
7. JC Penny catalog, we would get the catalog in the mail the big one and go through it together every year.
8. Washing the windows on the outside of our house, I always liked to help her.
9. House plants, she had them in every room of our house. She loved to have plants.
10. Baking cut out sugar cookies, I looked forward to this every Christmas. We would play all of her old Christmas records and bake and decorate cookies. I now have all her records.
11. The way she tucked me in at night and gave me a kiss when I was a kid.
12. How much she loved my dad.
My dad didn't think we needed any more cats but my mom had a talk with him and some how he had a change of heart. I also remember her helping me name the cat, we decided on Frisky. I was almost 8 years old here the same age as Ethan.
2 comments:
Amy, I loved seeing the pictures of Barbara & the stories about her. She was a special person. I remember her as always being happy & she never said a negative word about anyone. I remember her Christmas cookies too, when she would bring them to Christmas dinner. I think about her often & wish she were here. I'm glad you have so many good memories of her. And you do not look old!
Amy, thank you for sharing these pictures and memories! I remember alot of those same things that made her special. She did have a beautiful, sweet smile. That's what I see in Emma (and those pretty eyes too!). I think we all looked forward to those Christmas cookies each year. Cali and Mason have some wonderful memories of her and I'm so thankful for that. Cali always tells the story of "helping" her wash dishes on that step stool and her little toe getting stuck in the stool! We will always love and miss her. I know she's so proud of you and your family! Love ya, Kimi
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