Memories of my Mother.

Today would have been my mother's 87th Birthday.
She was born on July 17th 1920. She died on August 17th 1997. Here she is just a little girl. She was the only daughter, & had 3 brothers. Two elder brothers, & one younger. She loved them all dearly.

Here she is happy with her Brother-in-Law to be, at one of their country Dances, when she was young.

Here she is with my Beloved Brother & I. I still have the gold buttons off the dress she wore for that photo.

Here she is with me, on my wedding day.

Here she is with my Beloved Brother & his Wife on their wedding day. I am on the left. Thank goodness hats had gone out of vogue by then!
Here she is Proud Grandmother with my Brother's 2 eldest boys.

And here, she is with my Brother's youngest son.

Because we lived in the South Island, I dont have many photos of our children with Mum.

In this one, she is Proud Mother, Grandmother & Great Grandmother.

I still miss her, even though it is almost 10 years since she went.

In many ways she had a sad life. But she loved her family dearly, & she was a fiercely loyal little person. She had no desire to be called a 'Lady', always said she wasnt one.

I was lucky enough to manage a visit to stay with my mother on average of at least once a year, for most of the years I lived away from her. And she would come to stay with us when she could.

She had a wonderful sense of humour, & could be very sharp of toungue if she disagreed with you. She was an extremely hard worker, & she made a lovely warm, & welcoming home for all her family.

In her last years, she lived next door to my Brother & his family, & I know she got a lot of pleasure out of those boys, & they loved her. My children also loved her dearly, though sadly, they didnt know her quite as well because of the distance, but she came to stay with us often, & would be sure to be on their side most of the time, if there was conflict. She was a great Grandmother. (Though, I always told her she was too thin! Grannies are supposed to be portly -like me!) haha.

For you Little Mary:

Anne Murray, Little Snowbird.

Fleetwood Mac, Albatross.

The Seekers, The Carnival is Over.

Loss

This is a photo of my beloved Mother, with a young me. I am not sure how old I was. Perhaps a year.

My mother was born in 1920 & died in 1997.
She was a small built woman, who worked very hard to support my brother & I, alone.

We had our stormy patches... I could be a nasty girl at times. I was a troubled, rebellious teenager, who I would have hated to be the mother of.
But she was my best friend, & we weathered our storms to become very close.

I still miss her every day of my life, & know this will never change.
She was funny, shy, humourous, sharp, snappy, angry, sad, lonely & loving.

She was our Little Mary.