Rest in Peace, Mom

My Mom passed away peacefully in my brother's arms on June 20, 2014. It's still hard for me to fully comprehend and grasp that she is gone. The past ten years have been spent watching Alzheimer's Disease steal her from us piece by piece, memory by memory. We have lost so much of her over the years and there have been so many different layers of grief and goodbyes. I worried so much about her. Now that she is gone, that space in my heart where the worry lived is wide open. As relieved as I feel that she is no longer suffering and finally in much deserved peace, there is such an emptiness without her. My brother, sister and I lost our first love, our matriarch, our family story teller and historian, our everything. Our kids have all lost their chance in knowing their zany, fun loving, hilarious, eccentric and wonderfully creative Grandmother. I know what I have lost, but I know what I have left. Thanks to my Mom, I have a loving relationship with my brother and sister, a joy and pride in raising my children and commitment to my family, a love of laughing, story telling and finding humor in all things, a deep love and connection with art, the ability to find the whimsy in the mundane, an empathy and ability to relate to people and make lasting friendships, a love for music, family dinners, gardening, long visits to museums, holiday traditions, and of course, chocolate. We have the abundance of her prolific art career to surround our homes and hearts with her intense imagination and drive to create meaningful art. We have her love wrapped around us in everything we do and all who we are. I am so deeply grateful she was my role model and Mother.