Misty water-colored memories Of the way we were Scattered pictures, Of the smiles we left behind Smiles we gave to one another.....Thank you Barbara Streisand

My mom has been getting really out of sorts lately. I understand in so many ways. This isn’t easy for any of us. Our lives have been turned upside down and inside out. Every time the house is looted we debate as to whether to tell her or not. I am always the voice of telling her. They don’t want to tell her because they don’t want to tell her but honestly I know that like me she would rather be told. Sometimes we try to protect a person but we end up hurting them instead.

She was starting to get really depressed. Especially since I have had to tell her that she is losing her beloved piano. She has had it since she was a child. It was built in 1906, it was a family heirloom. I knew she wouldn’t take that loss well so I contacted Trisha who is handling restoring the less than 15% of our belongings that they were able to rescue from our home. I had her bring the suitcases full of photos that my mom has kept over the years. Including her parents wedding photos.

Yesterday we sat down and went down memory lane. We looked at photos of her family, my dad’s family, my parents, my sister’s family, and my family. It was a great trip down memory lane. We had so much fun looking at them. I invited my niece Stephanie over because I knew she would want to join us on this journey. She was able to see photos of her mom as a child and that was really nice for her as my sister passed away in 2011.

My kids got to see those awkward photos of me as a kid. It wasn’t pretty. Lol! We spent a lot of time oohing and awing over these treasures. My mom’s mood really improved. This is exactly the medicine she needed. That we all needed. I was able to laugh over awkward photos of myself and everyone else. We saw photos of my grandparents on my dad’s side when they were young with her sitting on his lap. Really cute stuff. This was just what we needed. I used to get so angry with my mom because she had these suitcases of photos that she did nothing with. Now I am glad that she did. We still have two suitcase to go through. Won’t that be fun?