Preserving One Woman's History

March is Women's History month. On March 5, 2024 my mother moved to heaven and while her story on earth ended, her legacy continues.

Many people will tell you that their mother was incredible. I am no exception to that as my mother was. She isn't famous, except locally for pitching horseshoes. She wasn't wealthy but she was rich with with friendship and faith. She wasn't successful in business unless you count the business of raising three girls as a widow. She wasn't blessed with good health - having to fight for her life from the day she was born.

a scrapbook page done in FOREVER Artisan 6 photo taken Jan 2024

Root Beer Floats & Cookies

My sisters and I had the task of planning her celebration of life. We had been given some direction from her. She had terminal cancer so we had those hard discussions. An unassuming person to most at first glance, she didn't want something extravagant, or that would be too much work for anyone. A service at the church she had attended for 70 years followed by a reception in the fellowship hall. As for food, we decided on root beer floats and cookies. Two things she enjoyed and in the last weeks the only thing she would finish that would bring a smile to her face. We decided in place of a prayer card we would hand out one of her favorite recipes. It was a way to make sure her love of cookies would live on in others' recipe boxes.

A 4x6 card from FOREVER. The backside included the recipe

You can see the whole card here

Her History is safe in FOREVER

My mom had a FOREVER account that I had helped her set up several years ago. We had moved all her digital photos there. Her phone automatically backed up to it. We had old movies and photos digitized. She attend several of my getting organized sessions over the years and had started writing the stories of her pictures. She even participated in my picture a day project in 2022. That is how we ended up with a picture of her hand holding a cookie. The daily prompt was 'in my hand.'

That is the best thing about FOREVER. Even though she is spending her time in heaven, I don't have worry about any of her photos or videos being deleted. They are there until 2124 and hopefully longer, the lawyers only allow us to say 100 years. So everything she did is still there. As her account manager, I can add the slideshow I made for her celebration life, the pdf of my sisters eulogy and photos of family and friends that were shared with me. I can organize what she didn't finish and it will be there for her grandchildren, great grandchildren and anyone else who wants to learn about this remarkable woman I had the privilege to call mom.

My mom and my sisters 1970

mom holding my twin girls '03

my mom & sisters Jan 2024