Thoughts

There are so many things that go through my mind that I think I should post about..

- Thanksgiving 2010 (which was almost 8 months ago now)
Thanksgiving 2010 was amazing, and filled with family as usual, but this year, my aunt (Mom's sister) and cousin from Virginia came to celebrate, as well as my aunt (Mom's half-sister) from California. It made me think about the things that are only possible once someone passes away...

- Helping my sister move back to Texas and the drive from California

- Midnight in Paris. Maybe it's because I LOVED this movie so much, that I really thought she would love it, too. My sister paused when I told her this, and it made me wonder if I'm not just fantasizing some of these things that I think she would love.. it's been so long now. I was a completely different person in 2003 than I am now. I was only 16..

- 8 years is a long time. Sometimes I am overcome with emotion at the fact that, it's been a long time since I've seen my mom. Since I've heard her voice. Since I've felt her embrace. And it's only going to become a longer amount of time. I become short of breath when I think about the fact that, one day, it will be ten years. Another day, it will be twenty years. It's too much to think about...

- This evening, I made her delicious chicken and rice casserole (with too much cheese, just like she used to make it), and listened to a Pandora station of Tom Petty, the Eagles, the Beatles, and Van Morrison.

I miss you. Every day.

#18 The Royal Wedding

I'm sitting here, glued to my TV (I've had to watch my Royal Wedding coverage in segments), and I can't help but think how much Mom would LOVE this. They're calling this wedding the first royal wedding of the social media age, which is appropriate considering the hash tags and live tweets scrolling across the bottom of the screen. With 5,000 tweets per minute, I have no doubt that Mom would be live tweeting with the rest of them!

I love watching the pomp and circumstance, and the idea of the romance and the fairy tale aspect is inescapable. Westminster Abbey is one of my favorite places in the entire world (as it was for Mom, too), and all the images of London don't hurt either.

I love the red carpet on either side of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, too.

#17 Recreating Childhood Photographs

Photographer Irina Werning and her "Back to the Future" project (check it out here: http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/) is something I know my mom would love.

In the hallway of our house, there was this epic framed picture of my sister as a toddler, standing at the edge of my grandmother's driveway, watching her drive away. It was a precious picture. When my sister was 17, the three of us drove to my grandmother's old house and recreated the picture. Sister was 17 and had MUCH attitude about the whole thing, but I remember thinking it was a really cool idea.

I know my mom would've loved the idea, and it might've even inspired a creative field trip for more recreation pictures. I think I would've loved that, too.