October Thoughts

October is beautiful, but incredibly bittersweet for me. I lost my wonderful mom 4 years ago this month, a day after her 80th birthday. I am one of only 3 people who heard her heart beat from the inside. I miss her every day. I see her in my body as it ages, I her her in my voice, and even in my emotions. As I get older, it is amazing how much I am like her. I do know that I can never, ever come close to her incredible talent and energy. That hit me so forcefully today, as I visited shops in the Arcade. Designer clothing, silkscreened linen towels, and vintage kitsch. She was a skilled seamstress, and she would have loved the fabrics and clothing I saw from the local Providence designers. Long ago, she created illustrations used on linen towels screened in Woonsocket for the gift shop trade. And the kitsch...so many of those things were part of my childhood at 99 Cushman Ave.

Sigh. Life goes on. I know she would be happy that I found a handmade clutch bag made from vintage fabric, reminiscent of 1963. Or think I was nuts for liking it! Here she is, an Irish Beauty, in the late 1950s.