Barbara was my mother in law for 25 years and hands down was THE MOST creative person I have ever met. She whipped up bedding, dolls, christmas stockings, tree skirts, wreaths......anything you can imagine. She was also very modest and would say, "Oh it really isn't perfect or that good", when actually it was amazing! She helped me on many projects the last one being my youngest daughters prom dress. It wouldn't hang right in the bust area, so, Barbara took it upon herself to spend her night hand sewing it several times til it was perfect. 

She supported my decisions and called to check on me quite frequently. She said I would always be her daughter in law, nothing would ever change that. Her standing beside me and my decision meant the world to me, she will never know. She had a way of going with the flow most of the time, she never sweated the small stuff. I use to go back and sit with her for hours just chit chatting, but, I always learned something new. I will forever be grateful for her knowledge. 

Cheers Barbara, see you again someday, I love you

When Natalie was a girl we would stop at mom's in Jackson for a night or two on our summer vacation. It was along drive- 6 hours on I5-yuk- to get either home or down to ventura to visit other family. Natalie could get  v e r y  bored.  I complained to mom about the drive on one of those trips. Next morning  she came out with a shoe box of her old costume jewelry, much of it missing pieces or broken and gave it to Natalie to sort through on the drive. So many amazing treasures! Best drive ever, with her picking thru those fancy things, oo-ing and ah-ing all the way. Mom was already the best 'Glam-ma' ever. but this cemented her as the most thoughtful in my eyes.Thanks mom .

I still have some of those treasures and so does Natalie. We've sewn them and beaded them and even cemented them into things of beauty over the years. Some are still used for dress-up in my preschool classroom. I'm pretty sure I even have one of those white earrings in the photo, too....