There is a certain county road near my hometown that every year gets overrun with woolly bear caterpillars in the late summer/early fall. A few here and there is normal, but for some reason in that area, the road is full of woolly bears scurrying (as fast as a caterpillar can scurry) from one side of the road to the other. One of my earliest memories is of the whole family packed into the old woody station wagon, driving down these county roads to see if the woolly bears were out.
Fifteen or so years ago, this area/road happened to be the way to get from my sister's place to my brother's place. (Now it's my nephew's place.) My sister, Mom, and I were driving in this area to get to my brother's house, and the woolly bears were out in full force. My BIL and nephews were following in a separate vehicle. We were driving along this deserted county road, weaving in and out to avoid hitting the woolly bears. Every time one of us would spot one, we'd let out a little scream and yell watch out! We were laughing the whole way. When we got to my brother's, my BIL asked why the hell we were driving that way, and of course we all just laughed even harder.
A few weeks after that, I got this in the mail.
Mom drew this little cartoon and sent one to each of us. I promptly hung it on my refrigerator, and there it remained. It even survived the move down to the farm, and got put on my new refrigerator here. I took it down, along with some other photos, etc for safekeeping when Mom started messing with everything. I thought about it a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't find it among everything else I had taken down. I was heartsick, thinking I had put it in the recycling bin by mistake or something. Today, I was moving some stuff, and there it was! I was so happy I cried! This post is getting the Pre-Alzheimer's Art label.
12 comments:
What a lovely memento. It's such a wonderful thing to come across things that our Moms created. I'm so glad that you found it.
That is so sweet and funny. Your mom really had a way with art that even Alzheimers couldn't touch.
Reason why we should hang onto sentimental things (even when our digs get messy). I come from genes which save old report cards, newpaper clippings, first written reports, awards, plaques, certificates...Of course, if anyone were to ask for any particular piece of memorabilia, we'd be hard pressed to find it; but, it is somewhere! Glad you found the fuzzy cartoon!
What a funny year. Not even one woolly bear. That's a first. Love the picture. Frame it.
Oh, man. That is a loverly momento. What a great story.
This is a wonderful post - thank you for sharing this memory. Just took a look at the photos of your mom's art - it reminds me of ManRay. She really has some talent and you can see her sense of hulor in what she is putting together. Thanks for posting those. There is a new documentary film on Alzeheimers that I saw on DVD last week about how the creative arts are helping AD patients regain memory and how it opens doors to communications. The film is called "I Remember Better When I Paint". You would probably be inspired by the film - some powerful things happening for AD patients through the use of art.
Hidden treasure. What a sweet surprise.
your mom's humor always shows thru you both, I just love it when I see you've put up a new post
Hope all is well. Miss hearing from you via the blog.
I know this has to be a hard time for you. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
(((Annie)))
I noticed a gap in posts; hope the wicked weather is not beating you up too much, and the holiday preps, though understandably different this year, are going well.
Hard to believe Christmas is next week. Blessings to you,
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it
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