pictures help us remember

Before I say anything else, I just want to thank everyone who prayed, emailed, called, brought food, and were supportive and present for my mom. She has been released from the hospital, although she is still jaundiced and is weak. We haven't heard anything about her results yet... we're anxiously waiting. It is really difficult to wait. It is also really difficult to see her in pain, or hooked up to moniters and IV lines, or to see her weakened. She's my mom and I will always think of her as being strong, beautiful, and full of life. 


As I have been thinking about my mom, I have been reliving lots of my memories of her and savoring them. They have become precious to me over these past few days. Growing up, she saved a few pictures of herself as a child, teenager, and then young woman, and I used to love looking at them... I loved looking at what she wore, and how she did her hair, where she was and who she was with, what her friends looked like. I formed this image in my mind of who she was before she became my mom and I was fascinated by that. That mental image has influenced my sense of self and my vision for my own feminity. I have always not liked looking at pictures of myself, and I realize now that this is not good. The reasons that I don't like pictures of me are so petty. It will be so precious to my family one day to have these visual reminders. And I need these reminders of them too. There is something about being able to see someone's face, their hair, their expression and posture, the little details... something that helps us remember who they were. So my hope I guess is to be more diligent to record us, including me. And also to actually print out more of my digital pictures (another reason why film is great). The headscarf I am wearing was a recent thrift store find. I used to wear scarves alot more, but my favorite scarf was over ten years old and was starting to fall apart. I remembered to look on my most recent trip and found a couple of really pretty ones for cheap. I love the thrift store. Head scarves are back in action.


We are back in Athens after lots of back and forth between Columbia and Myrtle Beach. Our time at the beach was so much fun, even though it was tempered with concern for my mom. Piper loved being there. This was the view from our hotel room:

The beach was gorgeous, the sun was beautiful, and I hate that I didn't get any good pictures of us all together. 


Now that we're back, I have cleaning to do, orders to make and deliver, pictures to edit, a birthday party to plan (Piper will be two on the 29th!) and adventures to take with Piper and Daddy. I'll keep everyone updated on things with my mom, and hopefully will be able to blog a bit more in the coming weeks.


xoxo