Mom and Gia meeting Liliana for the first time.

She had a sendoff fit for the highest of angels and the brightest of stars.
It was a privilege and an honor to be in her company, and to be her daughter.

Later that morning, I was explaining to my daughter Gia that she could now talk to Grandma at anytime as she'd transitioned. My Mom had wanted me to tell the kids that Grandma went to be with the butterflies – so I said, “Gia, Grandma will be everywhere and with the butterflies.”

My little sage replied, “ butterflies…and….ribbons for grandma."

“Ok, Gia. What color ribbons for Grandma?”

“……all of them.”

Gia mentioned this again during the day, reminding me, “ribbons for Grandma, Momma, I want ribbons for Grandma”. So we went to the butterfly park with a fistful of rainbow ribbons with rainbow balloons, all the colors, and watched them until they disappeared into the beautiful blue sky. My new Mother’s Day tradition.

Mom took the Amtrak out again but this time it was October 2009 and I was just about to have my 1st child, Gia. She stayed with us in our little 750 sq.foot apt until New Years. One of the greatest memories of my life, and every single day we knew how special that time was. This is why I cannot help but feel uplifted and so grateful thinking of my Mother. As a child, my heart held a lot of questions as I'd hoped to connect more with my Mom. As an adult, I am in great comfort that those questions were answered in an organic and patient way. My Mom and I grew closer and closer as the years went on and I am so happy to have shared and enjoyed the times with her that I did. We had a blast welcoming my daughter into this world. I remember pedicures, movies, too many ice creams and lollipops, and lots of WoW. I also remember her rushing to tell me, "Shelly, it's snowing!" and we stood outside on the balcony and took a photo of us smiling so big like kids. It was beautiful. For her to have been there for both my girls when they became outside babies is something I'm eternally grateful for. They will always know 'Grandma'. Here is one of my favorite photos of her and tiny Gia.

My Mom didn't care for flying, not even once. But ever determined to be with her babies whenever we needed her, she took the Amtrak for 42 hours each way, not once but two times to be with me in Austin. The first time was a shorter trip to be with me during a minor surgery, but it was packed with awesomeness. I'll never forget being sandwiched on the couch all bundled in blankets with her on one side of me and my husband on the other as we ate take-out Papasito's (our fave) and watched a scary movie. She cooked us the best turkey ever! As you can tell by the photo, she's wicked funny. We always found stuff to laugh about and of course made time to play WoW together. But that's another story.