Memories and Thanks Blog Hop Reveal

Welcome to Lori Anderson's Memories and Thanks Blog Hop reveal!

Please visit Lori's blog post for the full list of participants. Thank you Lori for organizing another wonderful blog hop!

There are so many people that have touched my like over the years and I am thankful for each one of them. When I saw Lori's sign up post for the blog hop, I immediately knew about whom I would post, because I had been missing her so.

My mother-in-law, Marylou, loved Christmas and the holidays are when I miss her the most. She was such a joyful and giving person and made Christmas time so special. Marylou was very creative, although some would say she was eccentric, she found usefulness in most everything, especially in her Christmas decorations. I was always fascinated by how creative she was and it seemed like she could do anything she set her mind to. She played the accordion and piano, sang in the church choir and played in the bell choir, painted, made flower arrangements, sewed, wrote poetry and was working on her memoirs before she passed away. I caught the creative bug from Mary Lou and I fully believe that if she had not been in my life, I would never had tried anything creative.

Marylou's health started to fail and she was diagnosed with an enlarged heart and rheumatoid arthritis. She had to have a pacemaker and a defibrillator implanted to keep her her heart beating, but she kept her spirits high. Even when she lost mobility in her hands and eventually had to rely on a wheel chair to get around, she remained in good spirits. I think it was because she had a strong faith and knew she had lived a good, full life.

In 2006, for Marylou's 73^nd birthday I wanted to make her a special necklace and asked my husband to help pick out the beads. He chose a strand of beautiful Kyanite beads and because her birthday is in February, we chose some lovely Amethyst nuggets. From my personal stash I added Garnet chips, silver spacers and amethyst colored crystals. Marylou loved the necklace and the Kyanite beads complemented her beautiful blue eyes.

 

 

Marylou passed away in April, just a few months after her birthday. My father-in-law wanted her to wear the necklace for the viewing. After the viewing, my sister-in-law brought the necklace to me and said that Marylou would want me to have it back. I wear the necklace often and am grateful for the memories it holds.

Over the years I have made other pieces of jewelry with Marylou in mind. My father-in-law let me go through her crafting supplies and I found wonderful treasures of buttons, beads and pieces of broken jewelry that can be reused. Thank you, Sweetie, for your inspiration and encouragement. You were and angel on earth, as you are surely and angel in heaven.