A New Wrinkle
Mom charms the filly in our neighbor's field, Lacey,
by singing "Chantilly Lace," the song that provided her name.
Mom further plies Lacey with grass...
... making Lacey comfortable enough for a more intimate
conversation.
As promised: "Your momma's so fat, she has
to iron her pants on the driveway."
Also: "Your momma's so fat, she doesn't just have
bellybutton lint, she has enough wool for a sweater." (Some of you may
have received one of these ornamental sweaters as a gift from Mom in
the past. Little did you know where they came from. :-])
Behind the scenes of the photos at right (photo: S.
Baldwin).
Modeling new haircut and returning hair in mid-July.
In terms of activity, yesterday was an above average day for Mom. She was on her feet more than usual, and ate and visited with friends with gusto. Earlier today, she also walked around a bit, and had some animated conversations, but felt some headache pain "breaking through" the medication's balm.
Mom has talked more since the last update about death and about her ideas for a memorial service. And our talks about funerals reminded me of a book called Tuesdays with Morrie, which a friend had given us. No doubt some of you know of this non-fiction bestseller in which the title character is dying. Early in the book, Morrie returns from a friend's funeral and laments that his friend hadn't lived to hear the wonderful things that people said about him. (I believe the protagonist expresses a similar sentiment in Waking Ned Devine.) Morrie decides to have a "living funeral," a small gathering of family and friends before his death.
While Mom knows that she will be able to observe us and hear us after she has died, that she will be present at her funeral in a different form, we thought we could refashion Morrie's idea a bit for this medium.
On our back deck in mid-June
(photo: S. Baldwin).
It's been almost six months since this site hatched, and we've received hundreds of email messages in response. New friends, old friends, acquaintances, and strangers have visited and sent a message. We've heard from some people with whom we've been out of touch for years. I share this email with Mom and Dad and Jody, and often the messages move us. To extend and expand this exchange, we decided to add a section to the site which more resembles a room full of people than an exchange between two parties. The guestbook now provides the option for people to submit a message that any subsequent visitor can read.
The messages need not resemble eulogies, and please, by all means, do not describe Micki in the past tense. Any thoughts or responses that you would like to share are welcome. Also, with anyone able to contribute to the site, visitors won't have to wait for one of us to write an update in order to see a new message.
Same as above, but Mom's laughing harder
(photo: S. Baldwin).
To add an entry, the form only requires you to include your name and your comments. Feel free to just give a first name if you prefer. An email address is optional, but could allow a visitor to follow up one-on-one. There is also a place to give your city, state, and country, all optional, but it could be interesting to see where on the planet people are writing from. The area for comments appears small, but it will accommodate more than the five lines you can see at one time. When you're done, just click the "submit entry" button.
We hope that this new part of the site will provide an inviting forum and a new level of participation. After I shared our guestbook plan with a friend, he pointed me towards two sites on similar themes, jamien.com and B-mom.com. Both use guestbooks and are compelling (the latter site is only semi-active).
From here, you can add your thoughts about Micki/Mom or the site, or see what others have written. Thank you for visiting, and thank you for the caring energy, manifested in so many ways, that we continue to receive.