Loved Ones

Over the last couple of weeks I've been thinking a lot about what kind of keepsake photos I wish to have or wish I could have had. I want to encourage each and everyone who reads this blog page to take some time to ponder that thought. You see I almost lost two special loved one's this week - thankfully in some ways I only lost one. Let me explain...

You see this lovely lady to the left is my Grandmother. My last grandparent. She was about to turn 83 in June of this year, unfortunately she has just passed away. I am thankful for some special things that my Grandmother taught me. One of those things was that she encouraged me not to take things just as they were. Experiment she said - don't take things at face value. So I did. You know what - I learned that this was good advise no matter what I did; be it baking, cooking, or even photography. You could say that my Grandmother taught me how to let my creativity out. I am thankful that I was able to get a couple of photos of her last year. The other one with her is even more special to me as an adult. You see it is a multi generational photograph. It has myself, my Grandmother and my Mom. This is special as we can't re-create this possibility anymore and more importantly I remember doing it. It's not perfect but at least I have it. I'm not one to boast, but it also just happens that my cousins are not able to have a similar memory now. So that is one.

The next love one some of you may think I'm a little nuts on. You see the love one is my older cat Spiffy. But before you say something along the lines of 'oh bother'. Let me explain. When it comes to avid pet owners the pets are as much a part of the family as a human and there loss is felt just as deeply.

Spiffy is 13 years old, in cat years this makes him a Senior Citizen. He had stopped eating this last week and we weren't sure if we were going to have to say good-bye to him as well. However, after some dental work he is now starting to be his old self and I don't think I've seen him look more attentive in quite some time.

So I also encourage you to include in your family photos your pets. They are such a special part of the family. Who else gives that unconditional love to you when you need it most. For me it seems like both my cats seem to have an inside scoop on me so to speak. They seem to know when I'm feeling low or just plain crabby. Because its then that they come up to me and just stay with me. After a short time I'm petting them and they are of course loving the attention so much that they begin to purr. All of a sudden the world doesn't seem so grey (pardon the pun - both my cats happen to be grey).

So to sum up this time remember all the members of the family in all aspects from human to feline or canine. They are all special and should be remembered in a special way - after all they were all created by the same creator... Who would have thunk?

To finish off I leave you with a cute photo of Spiffy and Spunky (Spiffy's adoptive brother). Is love any better than that

So as you take the time to think about the love ones in your life - let's also take the time to make sure we have the memories to go along with it; as they won't be with us forever and then it will be too late.