Up and Away

My mom as ultra-organized.  After she died, we opened up her "black book" to read what she had written about her end-of-life wishes.  She wrote that she wanted "twirly-gigs and balloons" at the cemetery after the funeral.  We looked and looked and looked for pinwheels, but evidently they are a beginning-of-summer thing rather than an end-of-summer one.  My sister-in-law's friend finally made up a bunch of terribly cute pinwheels to pass out to the kids.  Twirly-gigs, check.

Balloons were much easier.  Mom loved bold, deep colors.  One wall in her bedroom was an intense red.  Red balloons were a no-brainer.

One balloon was mylar, with red roses and "I love you" on it.  That one, and the bunch of red and pink balloons was for my dad.  He was going to release them with all the others, but at the last minute, he wanted to keep that mylar balloon.  Thank goodness for brothers with pocket knives to pull it out of the bunch!  Dad counted off, just like Mom always did when we were helping her stand up, "One, two, three!"  And all the balloons took off.  Balloons, check.   It was a lovely ending.

Sending our love, Mom!