Remembering Mom

This first week of April is always a hard time for me. It is Mom's birthday and the anniversary of her passing. It has been 25 years since she died but I still miss her. She would have turned 75 on Tuesday if she were still alive and today on this Good Friday was the 25th anniversary of when she died. Because I have been working such long hours, I decided to take Tuesday and today off.

I indulged myself in some shopping on Tuesday. I wanted to get a new dress for Tom's commissioning ceremony. I got a dress with a little sweater to go with it, matching jewelry and shoes and got a purse to replace the one that I had that is starting to fall apart. I might actually wear the dress for Easter and Mother's Day as well as it is a very springy dress. It felt good to get an outfit accomplished.

Chris and I went to do a little bit of hiking in the Gorge today. We went to Eagle Creek--neither of us had ever been there. I was really hoping to get as far as Punch Bowl Falls--a fairly well known falls but there was a water crossing over a log that scared me so I couldn't bring myself to cross it to get there. I was too afraid of falling. Chris managed to see it though and thought it was "pretty cool". I did enjoy seeing what I was able to see though. There are several smaller falls all along the creek. I suppose they might have names but they weren't mentioned on any maps that I saw. I did get to see Metlako Falls from a distance though and it was quite lovely. It is always fascinating to see the moss covered tree and the rapids in the creeks and rivers of this area. We really do live in a beautiful part of the country.

As I was driving to the Gorge, Chris was a little surly. I wanted to spend the day with him. It was the last day of his spring break and I wanted to do something special with him. He wanted to hike but I'm not able to go as far as he can so he wasn't happy that I didn't want him to spend all day hiking without me. As we were going through our little disagreement, I couldn't help think about how much I would love to spend a day with my mom right now. I ended up letting him go on his own for as long as he wanted to go. I took my time since it is hard for me and I like to stop and enjoy the scenery and look for picture taking opportunities. He didn't end up going as far as he intended but seemed to enjoy it in the long run.

On my own in the beauty of that place, I reminisced about my mom and about Jesus on this Good Friday. Looks like Chris and Bill want to go hiking tomorrow--so I may try to join them again.