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06/21/2017 11:29:12 AM · #1
Crap!! I started this thread, typed in quite a bit of very emotional stuff, and then hit the back button accidentally.

Poof!

All gone!

Starting again. Luckily for you it will probably be more streamlined and less rambling.

I didn't post photographer's notes for my Remembering entry, and I've been regretting it.



So here it is:

(Oh, btw, I didn't call her mama, but she loved the movie "I Remember Mama" with Irene Dunne, so it seemed appropriate. :)

It's been 4 years since I lost my mom. It's been a very happy and very sad time over the last month. My mom died a couple of weeks before my daughter graduated from high school. It's been four years, and last month our Meggie graduated from college, and 4 days ago our Jesse ( jcar) graduated from high school. My mom would have been so incredibly proud. I wish my mom and dad could have been there. I'm hoping that someway they still know and were with us. They sure were in my thoughts.



Ok, even in the stripped down version the second time around, the screen has still gotten very blurry...

When the remembering challenge came around, I really wanted to do something to remember my mom. She was my sounding board for my first number of years of DPC. She gave ideas and feedback. I actually remember talking to her about the lucky 7 challenge in 2010, because she kept giving really irritating suggestions that wouldn't work, and then came up with the scoops of ice cream idea.



(which was very difficult to do, btw. Extremely hot day and ended up having to use a skewer to hold them in place. I should have had a person in the shot!)

Anyway, it had to be about mom.

I didn't want to take photos of a thing. I have many of her things, but it wasn't appropriate. I wanted something that went deeper than that, even though only my sister, brother and I might understand.

First, I don't think I've officially introduced you to Corey yet. Although you have seen him. This is Corey.



He's a lot bigger now! 6 months old.

My mom is the reason that I spent my money on a collie instead of a new camera. She was such a collie person. Shannon was our rough collie growing up. Mom and Shannon did obedience showing. What a sweet, kind, gentle dog.

When we got our Max, mom always called him regal and snuck him treats.

(oh yeah -- that's the kid that just graduated from high school, by the way)

She was such a dog person...

She was also a photography person. She did almost anything artistic successfully. She could draw, paint, she did everything from styrofoam chickens to flower arranging. Started her own business and did silk flower weddings. She was a writer, writing children's stories published in Highlights, Ladybug, Cricket, etc. She had two books of poetry published.
Storm Coming!
A Cold Snap!

Anyway, during her photography phase, I remember she did a lot of rainy window shots. She loved the rain. Adored thunderstorms.

So it needed to be a rainy window shot.

But there wasn't time.

Too much to get ready for graduation. My sister and her husband were coming in. Jeff's brother and his family was coming. Corey had chewed the carpeting and it was getting replaced. The refrigerator had continued to leak and finally warped the floor and the fridge was getting replaced. The deck needed staining.

There just was no time.

And then Julie's dad died.

I didn't mention Julie, did I? Julie was my best friend growing up. She was at our house all the time. She was my mom's third daughter and bought her a shirt saying "Julie Baird". All of the sudden, cleaning the house became much less important, and remembering our parents seemed absolutely necessary. So with a couple of hours left before it was due, I stared trying a shot. It had to be a collie looking out a rainy window.

It didn't work.

The window was too high up to spray, so I opened it, put my arm out, and squirted it with a squirt bottle. I couldn't light it right. The rain didn't show, and the angle was completely wrong. I needed light from the outside.



Frustrated, tired and sad, I realized that the light might be right from the outside.

But I could hardly see the dog, because I had to shoot up 3/4 of a story!

Perfect!

I love when problems turn out to be pluses. While others might have preferred more of a dog in the shot, I loved the fact that it wasn't perfect. It seemed dark and lonely, yet somehow hopeful. So while I figured that some might think that I was going for a melancholy lonesome shot. I really was going for a collie and a rainy window.

The rainy window really didn't show, but the thought was there!

Mom and dad, I miss you terribly.

____________________________________________

If you read this to this point, I'm impressed! It was rather rambling. If you want to share your remembering thoughts, feel free to add them to this thread.

Message edited by author 2017-06-21 11:30:55.
06/21/2017 11:39:12 AM · #2
This was one of my favourites from the challenge!
06/21/2017 04:43:26 PM · #3
What a wonderful remembrance post and photo, Wendy!

I'm so sorry for your loss... *heavy sigh*
06/21/2017 07:10:26 PM · #4
Lovely memorial, Wendy. I can't believe the kidlets are both grownups now, more or less. Seems like yesterday we were walking Nauset Beach with all of you.
06/21/2017 07:44:07 PM · #5
Wonderful story, Wendy. I'm amazed that four years have already gone since you lost your mother. (I'm amazed that 12 have passed since I lost mine.) My condolences to you because I know that the pain remains, mingled with the happy memories.
Kudos for coming up with a beautiful tribute photo. I couldn't manage to do this.
06/21/2017 11:52:11 PM · #6
A beautiful tribute to your mom, Wendy. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience creating the image. My sincere condolences on your loss.

I also empathize with you on the "typing a whole bunch and the *poof!*" ;-)
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