Good Morning

Every day, as the day began when I was a teenager, I would say Good Morning to my family members, and one sibling always responded by saying “What’s so good about it?” This was a red flag that they needed help, but my mother was unable to see this because of her own emotional issues that haunted her her whole life.

Loss

My mother constantly told me in my adult years that she had unconditional love for me "but", which is not unconditional love. The word “but” translates it to conditional love.

She's Gone

My mother died on Sunday, December 19, 2021. Our relationship was very complicated. I imagined my first painting about her would be dark and possibly angry, but instead I appliquéd the back side of a piece of my colorful monoprinted construction fence fabric on the back side of an embroidery I found at her house when I emptied and sold it when she moved into assisted living.

We Didn't Know She had More Than Two Children

My mother raised four children, three she gave birth to. In age order, from oldest to youngest, there is me, my sister, my Foster Brother, and my brother. It haunts me that a number of her closest friends who attended her funeral told me “we didn’t know she had more than two children“ because they only knew about my sister and brother.

33 Days Apart

My mother and her sister, who was 9 years younger, died 33 days apart from each other over the winter of 2021/2022.