Mom and Boogyboarding!
May 2, 2012
This afternoon my dear friends Liz Underwood and Marjie Wood and I honored Mom, riding her boogyboards at a BEAUTIFUL beach here in Florida!
These are the boards that Mom got last summer for when Mark, Jill, Thea and I came to visit her.
Afterwards, she had hung them on her patio wall and they were there, cheerful and bright, when she got home after three months in the hospital and rehab center.
I showed her videos of the great rides Mark and I had on those boards, and she said she wanted to ride the waves in a boogyboard too.
I was determined that one way or another, even if it is in
a swimming pool, we'd ride those boogyboards together.
Those cheerful, beckoning, boards were on the wall next to her when she died, so I brought them with me to this conference at St. Pete's Beach to ride in honor of Mom.
They are the ones on the right and left in the photo (Liz, in the middle, brought one from a friend).
You can see behind us that
there weren't many waves to ride, but we had a great time floating and bouncing. Thanks Mom!
May 5, 2012 -- Mom joins us for boogyboarding
This afternoon Marjie, Liz, Kathy Yale and I snuck out between sessions to go back out on the boogyboards again, and this time Mom was with me.
Just before we had get out of the water, I floated a little by myself, talking with Mom and sharing the ride with her.
When I got out, I put my sandals on and decided to go back to the water to wash the sand out of them.
As I was standing in the water and shaking my feet, I saw an Ibis bird standing in the edge of the water only about 5 feet away from me.
After Dad had died, Mom had always thought that seagulls represented him.
I started to cry, thinking Mom had chosen to use this tall, graceful bird to show that she was with me on my last boogyboard ride.
I talked with her for a few minutes, and then went in to wash up and go back to the conference.
I had no camera but I'll post some photos of Ibis birds that look just like the one I saw.
I'll also post a photo taken in 1988 in California when Mom came to one of my very first presentations on street-crossing (she's wearing her favorite necklace -- she believed that tigers and other wild animals embodied our innermost being).
Enjoy!
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