It’s difficult for me to include the word Happy in the title. For those who still have their mother, I’m glad, but a little jealous. I lost my mom in February 2003 to a sudden heart attack. I never got to say goodbye or tell her that I loved her, and that haunts me to this day.
My mom was an amazing knitter and cross stitcher who passed on her love and talents to all four of her daughters. She taught me to knit for a Brownie badge, and although my square looked more like a triangle than a square, she never stopped encouraging me. She would often tell me of how intimidated she was to take clothes that she had sewn over to my Grandma’s – you see she was a professional seamstress and mom said that she was afraid that Grandma would say something about the quality of her sewing. Bless her heart, Grandma never did.
Mom passed that onto me. Look for the positive in everything that you do, especially crafts. Never criticize someone else’s work – instead compliment them on the originality – even if you don’t exactly know what they made.
In this picture, she’s wearing a sweater I made for her the year before she passed away. She wore it everywhere and told me that people complimented it everywhere she went. When she passed away, my sister asked me what I would like of hers. This was the only thing that mattered to me. Because I had made it for her, and she loved it.
I miss my mom dreadfully, never more than on days like Mother’s Day. Instead of spending the day in tears, I choose to honour her – her talent, her love and most of all her patience with a very imperfect daughter.