Got together last Sunday, October 26, to celebrate Mom's life. Tina and Tom brought Mom's ashes home. Dad wanted to keep Mom's ashes at the house until it's his time to join her and we'll bury them together.
More than anything, Mom loved family get-togethers. Our family get togethers are always noisy and messy, full of food and laughter. This get-together was no exception, with Mom there in spirit.
Trish suggested we have a "picture memorial" for Mom. So, Rob, Tina, Trish and I sat around the kitchen table with Dad and went through family pictures. We found pictures we forget about and one's we hadn't ever seen. We laughed about how much we changed over the years, and marveled at how Mom's smile could light up the picture. There were of course quite a few pictures that she would have hated. The posed pictures are always the worst; the impromptu pictures usually the best.
After we went through pictures, all the spouses and grandkids started arriving. Cody, Matt, Eddie, Josh (with wife Krystal), Jessica (with son Ryan), Tyler, Alex. Steve and JT are in the military and couldn't be here and were greatly missed.
We tied yellow ribbons on Mom's desert willow tree and watched a video that Eddie put together. And as always, there was lots of food. After eating, it was on to a card game on the front porch.
It was a great day with family and Mom would have loved seeing us all together. It was a bittersweet day.