Nostalgia

This is the back of a pendant that I made for my mother for mother's day. The front of the pendant has a resin encased photograph of my grandmother in 1940s period dress, posing for my grandfather, who during that time was off stationed in the Aleutian Islands during WWII.

Both of my grandmothers have been gone for years now, but their memory I hold close to my heart. This weekend is Mother's Day and my husband and I will travel to visit my parents to honor my mother. I always love going home. My parents hold many memories tangible in the form of antiques and photographs that I remember well as they stood in their homes of origin. Even though their parents are long gone, they keep their memories alive.

My husband and I watched a CBS Sunday Morning clip last Valentine's Day with Ben Stein. It was a segment about love and loss and how difficult it is to cope with loss, and the importance of loving those in our lives while they are still here on earth to do so because life moves so quickly, it's easy to forget our time together is limited and precious. The clip was so poignant and affected me so that we recently dredged it up on Youtube and saved it. In the clip, Ben Stein spoke of his father and how he suffered after the loss of his wife of 60 some years. Ben said he could not imagine life without his wife, that he could not fathom how people cope after being together for so many years.

During Mother's Day and Father's Day and birthdays and other special occasions, I remember all the little and big things my parents, grandparents, husband and others have done for me and how well I am loved and how grateful and fortunate I am for that love in my life. It's so huge. It's incredible to me how fast time goes by, and the older I get the faster it flies. We all better use it well, before it's all but memories to keep alive in our hearts.