April 7, 1948 - April 2, 1992

In talking to co-workers, friends, or classmates, the question sometimes comes up, who do you look like? This is sometimes right around the time people tell me that my daughter and I look alot alike. I used to not see it, until I put a picture of each of us side by side and if you can picture us both with either blonde hair or brunette hair, well, there's your answer folks, Chelsey and I look very much alike. But before there was Chelsey or myself, there was my mom. And just like the comment that my daughter and I look very much alike, I think you will see the same striking resemblance in the following picture of me and my mom.This was my first grade school picture and I assume my mom to be around the same age. I always remember her telling me that she had long hair like mine until one day she went it for a trim and the beauty shop lady turned my mom's back to the mirror and the above hair cut is what she ended up with. To this day, I have never let a hair dresser turn my back to the mirror!!
Ok, so I found these pictures this morning and have updated the original blog posting. I think I may be about 6 mos older in this pictures on the left in the light pink, but change the hair color and the resemblance is quite similar.

My mom would have celebrated her 61st birthday on April 7; however, her life ended just 5 days before her 44th birthday in 1992. For those of you who know me, knows that my relationship with her was estranged for alot of the short 23 yrs I was alive when she died. As a little girl I worshipped her but that slowly faded and the feelings turned to disbelief and anguish. I grew up hating her for what she had done and who she was, but those were teeage years when we don't always know how to understand the pain of another. I don't think I ever understood it, but I learned to not harbor that harsh feelings and to learn not to expect so much of her and slowly I let her back into my life.

I sometimes feel it was too little too late, because she went to sing with the choir of angels 17 years ago. Alot of things I never got to say and do where my mom was concerned. It's hard to know if that opportunity would have ever presented itself but as long as she was here there was hope. But what I do know, is that there are some very well tailored angles in heaven, as my mom was a master seamstress, as displayed in the below picture with our matching polyester mint green leisure suits. (Ok, give me a break, it was the 70's, and believe it or not, we were really styling.)

Rest in peace.