Kiki Halbert Designs

Where is spring? Today was the warmest day of the week - for a high of 7C....oh yay! Not.

Today we visited Mom and took down her temporary garage, even though there is a forecast for snow/rain all week. Yuck. But it needed to be done, and she certainly can't do it herself. So my hubby and I worked outdoors to get it down, and fortunately it wasn't too hard. But it was really nice to have a pleasant visit with Mom.

She shared some amazing photos with me, that her sister sent her of her parents, who have both passed away...my grandfather passed away 4 years ago, and my grandmother late spring last year. It's a sad time of year for my mom right now, because I'm sure she's missing her mom. So I'm going to do something special with the pictures she got. I'm going to make her an album of the pictures. Some are absolutely priceless, like the one of my grandmother as a young girl, and pictures of my mom as a baby with my glamorous grandmother. I really miss her.

Scanning these pictures makes me think of her more, and how much I wish I had visited her more often in her last days. When we knew the end was only a day or so away, everyone said it was the last chance for a visit, but I decided not to visit. I remember vividly being with my grandfather in his last days, when he was barely conscious, holding his hand at the side of his bed, praying desperately that he not be in pain and that he survive his cancer, and he passed the next day, while I was driving to their apartment. I remember seeing him before the funeral home employees took him and it's a memory that will haunt me. I didn't want my memories of my grandmother to be tainted by the same type of surrounding and circumstances. I wanted to remember her more vital, her quirky sense of humour, her smile.

My brother and Mom went to see her and they felt that her passing was imminent because she was so frail and sick. But the next day she seemed to revive and was more herself, but she passed that day. In some ways I regret not visiting her that day. It saddens me that the last time I saw her was in the hospital and not in my aunt's home, where we could have tea together.

I miss them terribly, and that's why it is so important to me to get this album right. If you have any suggestions for some wonderful heritage kits, please post them in the comments.

Thanks.