Remembering

My Mom died on New Years Eve, 1982. She had just turned 56. She died of breast cancer.

My Mom taught me how to knit, sew, and be an independent woman. She taught me lots of other things too.

I still miss my Mom, 29 years later. I like to think that she would be proud of me, my children, my husband, our home, my little Woolies business.

I have lots of beautiful things my Mother made - here's one I wanted to share with you.

This ornament is always on our Christmas tree, so I can remember her hands making this.

Happy New Year!

Ruth, my mother in law

Ruth passed away yesterday morning. She had battled stage four cancer for two years. We had two wonderful extra years with her.

I woke up this morning crying.

Ruth was a mother to me. My own Mom died 25 years ago. It was like I had become whole again.

And now there is a hole in the world again.

Tragedy in a life

Do you have time to read a story? It's sad, so be prepared.

When we first moved here, I remember being told a terrible story about two children, a brother and sister, being killed, quite a few years ago. They were on an ATV, going down a dirt road (that is just a few minutes away), and they didn't stop in time where the dirt road ends at an intersection. Not a busy road, but there was a car coming. They were hit and both killed. There is a small memorial there. I heard the story from a few different people, and it has haunted me. I heard the story from a woman whose husband was first at the scene. We often ride our horses that way, and pass the memorial, and pause, and say a prayer. Can you imagine ?

Fast forward -
on Good Friday of this year, my horses broke the fence in the arena overnight, and got loose. Typically, horses would stay near to home. This time they did not - I blogged about that morning here:
http://woolies-woolies.blogspot.com/2008/03/great-escape.html
We found our horses safe and sound, at the home of a wonderful woman named Cathy. I just instantly liked her, and we've begun a friendship. We've had a few lunches together, went to some yard sales together. Today I had lunch with her, and I found out that she is the mother of those two children that were killed. I just sat in the restaurant and cried. I cannot imagine her pain, her suffering, her immeasurable loss. I cannot imagine her strength. Her children were ages 12 and 9, gone, just like that, in a flash.

And it seems that a destiny has brought us together. Why in the world did my horses end up in her front yard?? I've sensed, since I've known her, a sadness - a grief - in her. I've wanted to ask her - "so, you never had children?", but something has always stopped me. Maybe I was waiting to hear. Maybe I knew.

Now I cannot do anything this afternoon but think about her; her loss. I cannot imagine.

And I wait for my kids to come home, safely, from school.



Hug your children; hold them close.

This is my tribute to Cathy, and her bravery.