It has been quite some time since I posted on my blog. My Mother, Alma Martin Howie(1922-2011), passed away peacefully on Monday afternoon, November 14, 2011 after a 3 month illness. She was not in any pain and she spent the last weeks of her life with her family by her side each and every day at my brother's house here in Marblehead. We lit candles for her and played her favorite Frank Sinatra tunes softly in the background. We surrounded her with our circle of love. Someone was always with her.
She was a wonderful Mother, an extraordinary nurse, grandmother, great grandmother and friend. She was well liked and well loved. My Mom was kind to everyone and considered friendships especially important. Her thoughtfulness was well recorded. She would take strangers under her wing and help them. There was always an extra guest at our holiday table. She was a gracious hostess and her dinner parties were legendary. She had an inimitable sense of style and was always well dressed and well coifed!
As her daughter, I have learned so much from her, both in how to live and now in how to die. She did everything with class and such grace. The last few months have given me many opportunities to talk with Mom about her life in such sweet and tender private moments...something I will always cherish.
Each day we have with the people we love is a gift. Don't waste a moment. I am so blessed to have lived near my Mother my whole life and to have been able to spend such wonderful time with her both on a daily basis, on fabulous trips both here and abroad that we took with both my parents and just having her in my life to guide and love me and my girls and Kenny and now our grandchildren who all adore her.
I will miss her forever, but as I told her just a few days before she died, she will be with me always because I am part of her and she will always be part of me. She liked that and so do I.
Godspeed my beautiful Mother!
