Day 23 -- Sad Day

My mother-in-law passed away peacefully yesterday. She was an artist, poet, teacher, world traveler, humanitarian. She was almost 88 years old and lived each day to its fullest. She painted and wrote mostly about nature and one of my favorite lines: "...My shore sparkles with treasure where none had been before..." sums up her life philosophy for me. She could look at a bird or sunset or mountain or ocean wave and see something new every time.

For my 50th birthday she gave me one of her favorite sculptures (my favorite) called "Stargazer". It's a rough-hewn figure of a woman gazing skyward. She had it in her garden and now it is the centerpiece of mine. I see it every time I look out the window. I am going to have a NICE day today... she wanted her life to be remembered with celebration, not sadness, so I am going to honor that and go outside today and sit next to "Stargazer" and read Sue's poetry and reflect on her life, her work, her contributions and how the world is a better place because she was here.