At the funeral, Matthew remarked that Lois passed away on Easter Sunday.  As we sat together in the beautiful small chapel blooming with flowers - Lois' seven children, twelve grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, her sister, her brother, and old family friends - it felt something like Easter, too.

Making the priest laugh, Matthew asked, what else did Christ teach us but that it’s possible to hit the re-set button?  It is possible to create a new legacy out of the shadows of previous generations.  Love your children with all your hearts, Matthew said.  Be kind to yourself.  Say a wish prayer, and make it happen.

She would have wanted it that way.

Looking back, my earliest memories are of her face.  Her long hair, her smile, the color of her eyes.  My mother, etched in my mind, good times and bad.  I can still remember that "memory" of her face.

Another, more specific memory... one that still makes me laugh (given modern safety regulations for kids).  A great memory:  Our family was driving, I think I was 5 or 6, and I remember so clearly sitting on my Mom's lap in the front passenger seat of an old car.  No seatbelt, no child seat, and I was in the FRONT seat of a car with with a metal dashboard.  Ah, the 70s. :)  

Safety aside :) it's such a positive early memory... sitting on my Mom's lap, my Dad driving, the windows down, the wind in our hair, the hot Kansas summer.