Loose Ends

This blogging thing is a little new to me, and I don't really have much of a plan. It occurred to me that you might not see much connection between these stories so I thought I'd try to write a post from time to time to let you know what I'm thinking.

The first blog I wrote was one about our Indian heritage. I thought it was appropriate to start with since that meant so much to my mother.

After starting to write about Wenonah I realized that I just couldn't refer to my mother by that name since I always called her Jim, so I wrote an explanation about how she got her name.

It wasn't until then that I decided to communicate some of my reasons for writing a blog about my mother. The first thing that came to mind was the sadness kindled by those funerals at Pauls Valley, and how as a child it seemed that the wonderful spirit of those I loved was being overshadowed by their death. I don't want that to happen to Jim.

Celebrating your mothers' death isn't so easy though. Almost every day something - like the story of the baby robin - reminds me of how much I miss her, and I end up crying, just like she did when her loved ones died.

Finally, I talked about how surprised I was to learn about Jim's regrets for not being able to develop her musical talents. She was always so consistent in talking about her goals for me, I was actually surprised to learn that she had any ambitions for herself.

What I'm trying to do, I guess, is to follow my mother's example. She spent her life collecting pictures, letters, and newspaper clippings about our family, and she spent the last ten years telling me their stories. In sharing these stories I hope to help fulfil Jim's purpose in honoring our family, and in the process maybe you can see just what a remarkable person she was.