.MOM.

For all of you that have lost someone in your life you know that depending on how long they have been gone some days you don't think of them at all and other days as hard as you try you can't get them out of your mind.

For me, memories of my Mom surface for all sorts of reasons. Maybe it is a song that I hear. Maybe it is meeting someone that talks or asks about her. Maybe it is meeting a client who has a similar life story. Maybe it is the loss of someone who touched me heart...Tim Russert and watching his tributes wondering what his family must be going through.

My uncle was in town for a few days over Memorial Day. I hadn't see him in over 15 years and he brought some old pictures with him and shared a few of my mother with me. These very pictures serve as a testament as to why I am a photographer. We talked about my Mom for a few minutes that day and my Uncle shared some feelings with me about how it was for him around the time if her death that made me really think about her.

People ask me all of the time if I remember my mother. I regret to admit I don't. It is amazing how connected you can be to a person you don't remember. Being a mother and understanding that connection between the boys and I makes these feelings that much stronger.

I can't really explain it.

As I sat here today listening to this Teagan Ward song over and over again, I looked at the pictures over and over again that still sit right here on my desk from when my Uncle gave them to me a few weeks ago. I couldn't help to pull out the letters that I took from my Grandparents house after my Grandfather passed away a couple of years ago.

They were letters she wrote to them about day to day activities that she was experiencing as a mother. I can't tell you what a treasure they are to me. To read in words my mother wrote I sit here and try to imagine how it was for her. I laugh at some of the things she wrote because I have thought the same thing about CJ and Connor. Together with the pictures they paint back a memory my mind has chosen to forget.

The letter in the picture above says this -

"Things are still quiet around here. The kids had their Valentine party yesterday at school. They really enjoyed that. Kristin especially enjoyed the candy. She sure has been putting away the groceries lately. The other night we had a leftover night and she ate her bowl of chili (large) and 2 pieces of lasagna left over from Dexter (my Dad) and me not to mention French bread."

Sound familiar?

Anyway...it all goes to show that even the snap shots we take in life may be a treasure to someone some day.