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My Dad arrived from Fairbanks last night.....we will be busy sightseeing with
him, so I won't be around much for this week probably.
What I wanted to share with you all, was a gift he brought me.
It was a lovely quilt, each piece of fabric an article of clothing that was
my mothers. One of the pieces had her name and date of birth and death. Then
that poem that goes "One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind
of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had or what
my clothes looked like. But the world may be a little better, the universe a
little brighter, because I was important to a child." and then a personal
note followed:
"Karen (My legal name)--Your mother's mission in life was to make a
difference not just in the lives of her own children, but all children whose
lives she was able to touch. She succeeded in both, and not it is your
priilege to carry it on to following generations. You too will succeed, for
you have a lot of your mother in you.
In loving memory of your mother.

That's when I started crying.
I thought this was one of the most poignant, sweet gifts I have ever
received. Apparently me Dad knew someone whose Father died before their first
baby was born. After the baby came along, somebody made a quilt of the
Grandfathers shirts for the baby.
He remembered this and decided to take all of my mothers clothes and have
special quilts made for each of us girls.
He's such a wonderful Daddy. I touch each piece of cloth and remember her
wearing that outfit. I remember helping her pick out shoes for one of the
outfits while we were shopping at Jantzen Beach (Portland) one day....the
kids rode the carousel afterwards.

Anyhoo.....I just thought it was a marvelous and touching thing to do, maybe
some of you have clothes of loved ones that have died and you don't know what
to do with them.
What a wonderful way to remember someone and clean out the closet at the same
time. :)

It's off to the Gulfarium for us today. We're going to feed the
dolphins..hurray!!
Hope everyone has a wonderful, beautiful, sweet, unschooling day with those
you love best.


Ren
"The sun is shining--the sun is shining. That is the magic. The flowers are
growing--the roots are stirring. That is the magic. Being alive is the
magic--being strong is the magic The magic is in me--the magic is in
me....It's in every one of us."

----Frances Hodgson Burnett

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In a message dated 3/18/03 5:16:41 AM Pacific Standard Time,
starsuncloud@... writes:

> That's when I started crying.
>

Ren,

This was such a beautiful idea. I was crying reading it. Thank you for
sharing such a personal part of you and yours.

Rhonda

P.S. Feed a dolphin for me!!! They are my familiars.


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