It's been three years since I lost my Aunt Nancy to cancer. Three years. I was thinking it was two at the most, as it can still be difficult to talk about at times. She and I had a special connection that began when I was little as I was her only niece. Our relationship grew through the years as we both enjoyed arts and crafts, but more importantly she was a huge support for me through difficult times in my life. She never judged me. She always admired and cherished me even at times when I felt I didn't deserve her direct look of love.
She also was one to take the steep and curvy San Francisco streets instead of the straight main drag.When she was in a nursing home where we were all hopeful she was going to recover, I visited her a number of times. I tried to think of what I would like to have with me if I had to be away from my family and my stuff. We talked about things she wanted to do when she got out. She had done acrylic and oil paintings before her boys were born and was very talented. She wanted to get back to that. I took her a sketchbook and a set of colored pencils. We talked about taking a watercolor class together, as it was something I'd always wanted to do, too.
It took me three years before I was ready, but I took that watercolor class this past week with Jane LaFazio. When we introduced ourselves we were to talk about what brought us to the drawing and watercolor workshop. It was simple for me: my love of travel and wanting to do travel journals and what clearly was most important to me as I got choked up in the telling, taking the class for both Nancy and me.
She was with me for sure as I've never drawn anything as recognizable for what it was and worth framing, at least for me, as I did that day.
Thank you Jane for your generosity in teaching, your encouragement and your happy spirit. Thank you Nancy for your continued love, support and laughter in my heart.The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living. ~Marcus Tullius Cicero