Treasures from Home and Flower Tribute

I still get choked up now and again. Even though my mom was 97 when she passed away on February 15, I miss her. The last year was not easy for her and I knew the day would come like it does for everyone else. Before we left Florida for the ride home, my brother, sister and I picked through some items in the house that had meaning. Since mom left the house to the next door neighbors who cared for her in the end after she generously cared for them in the beginning, there really wasn’t a lot to worry over. Oddly enough we all had different notions of what was a treasure. My dad’s slide rule always intrigued me. I remember him sitting at the dining room table studying to become a draftsman after her retired from the Coast Guard. Both my mom and dad had dog tags; there were trinkets I remember from our home in Connecticut - a chipmunk and a gnome; a couple pieces of old jewelry; a walrus tooth from dad’s expeditions in Greenland; a Christmas penguin ornament I gave mom and dad many years ago; a tiny polish prayer book that was printed in 1902; two wine glasses; a rose vase; and a desert rose piggy bank. I took pictures of photos and the house to remember. We moved to Florida in 1960 and my parents stayed in that house till the end. It’s the only house we visited every time we went to Florida. Now I’m not sure when we will ever go back. Trips over the last few years have been more painful than ever. So for now I’ll hang on to the few treasures and paid a tribute to mom by putting purple flowers in the vases in our house (her favorite color.) It doesn’t matter how old someone is when they pass away. It’s the routines and conversations that change as it’s going to take a while to get used to it. I wish I kept her favorite perfume bottle Chantilly.