Day 31: Jetta

Today my mother turns 93.  She is 93 years young.  She has definitely seen younger days, but for 93 she is in pretty good shape.  Jetta would be so proud of her.

Day 30: Jetta

We are winding down on this month of Jetta.  It does not mean her memory is done, it just means that I will go back to posting about other things and will post about Jetta as I remember, so she will be here a lot.  Not a day or an hour go by without wanting to tell her something.  And as our lives change in the near future, and I want to tell her, I'll just post it here and talk to her as I do anyway.  So here are a few of the best pictures of my sister and my other sister and me, our mother's three girls...

Day 29: Jetta, May 8, 1952-May 29, 2013

It was about 6:52 am this day last year that I got a text from my other sister that Jetta was gasping.  Then the text that she had her last breath.  I had been at her house late and was very weary and tired.  I bound out of bed threw on clothes and grabbed the husband and ran out of the house.  Drove crazy fast, but it was too late.  The other sister was in the room with her.  I went in and the tears flowed freely.  I kissed her forehead, but she was not there.  The rest of the week was a blur as was the rest of the summer.  But one thing is for sure, Jetta had no more suffering for that nasty cancer that invaded her body.  Her memories are very much alive.  It was so amazing to actually see how much Jetta's life touched so many others.  I don't think she had any idea.  Not that she was just a nice person, which she was, but that she truly loved big in her own way and touched many lives in profound ways.  I am not alone in missing my sister, there are many others that are not even family that miss her a lot.  

Day 28: Jetta

It was this exact day last year that we lost Jetta.  I guess it would be more accurate to say Jetta passed on to a better world this Wednesday last year.  The day before she died I looked right into her eyes when she was not communicating at all and said," I love you , Jetta."  She smiled as much as she could and shook her head yes.  That was the last communication I had with her.  I hold on to that last communication as a tidbit of treasure.  She was in the process of shutting down her earthly body and did the best she could to let me know.  This was the sister I always had and thought I always would.  I have longed for time to go back and let her know more than I did how much I loved and appreciated her for who she was to me and the world.  But we can't go back...As I re-live the next few days, I know the sadness will overwhelm me, but the world has to know, the part that I care about, I loved my sister very much and when the anniversary of these days passes, I will still miss her and the wonderful part she filled in my life.  There will always be a hole there.  Enjoy these pictures of Jetta.  Forgive me if there are repeats.

Day 27: Jetta, Jetta, Jetta

I hit the jackpot looking for pictures of Jetta today.  I went through Mema's old pictures and found some great ones.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this dedication, so bear with me as I go from childhood to adulthood over and over.

Day 26: Jetta's cakes

Here are a few of the cakes Jetta made.  I tried to keep them in order of oldest to the youngest that I have.  There are more and hopefully I will get them to add here.

Nephew number 1 cakes:

The Latest Chair

Since the red cheetah chair is almost done, I am preparing the next chair.  this chair is one that was given to me by a dear friend.  It was her grandfather's and she donated it to my cause.  I spent the day stripping this chair and I am exhausted from the work.

Day 25: Jetta

This is the family that made Jetta's world go round.  She loved this family more than life itself.  

Day 24: Jetta and Mother in Colorado

I found these pictures of Jetta and Mother on one of their trips to the McGrady cabin in Colorado.  This was Jetta's favorite place to get away from it all.  These pictures are wonderful as I am sure the trip was.  She took as many of her nieces and nephews with her as she could but some never made it and she would love for them to see God's country.  I hope they get their chance.

Day 23: Young Jetta

I never know what each day will bring, does anyone?  Today I am posting pictures of a young Jetta.  These pictures were in a special book that mother made for Jetta.  The thing is, Jetta helped mother make all the special books for the rest of the family and that was just one of the things Jetta was SO good at doing.  She could come up with the most creative ideas and carry them out or take mother's idea and make them come to life.

Day 22: Jetta

Just keeping up when I am tired is a hard thing.  I can't be profound every day.  But Jetta was pretty wonderful always.  I got a card from a cousin this week that described Jetta as "a woman who quietly lived out her faith-serving those around her with kindness.  She was always completely 'there' with whomever she was speaking to."   That is a good description of Jetta.  Not fair that she had to go so soon.  Oh how I wish I could have shared my love for Colorado with her.  We had a trip planned to go see the wildflowers in the mountains the June after she died.  I'll always think of her when I see those flowers.

The Chair

Day 21: Jetta

Love
Author Unknown

A million times we've missed you,
a million times we've cried.

If love could have saved you,
You never would have died. 

Things we feel most deeply
Are the hardest things to say.

Our dearest one, we have loved you
In a very special way.

Day 20: Jetta

Today's theme has escaped me.  Today will be random pictures of Jetta and my love for my big sissy.

My Chair

I love this chair.  The first one I sat in was at a B and B in Taos NM.  It was one our magical anniversary trips and this chair was the best thing!  I finally found one and while it was fine as is, I wanted to redo it.  So I went outside my "no animal print" rule and am covering it in red cheetah, and it looks amazing, if I have to say so myself.

Day 19: Jetta's Handwriting.

There is something so special about someone's handwriting when they are gone.  I guess it is special because there will never be handwriting from Jetta again.  So the writings I have are doubly special.  She wrote up a lot of recipes years ago and I used them a lot.  There are the special recipes that we all loved and here is a sampling of the recipes we loved in her handwriting except one.  More on that one later.

Day 18: Jetta

There are some days when I just don't know what to say.  I miss my sister.  In a couple of days, the 20th, will be a day to remember.  That was the day of the big storm.  It is getting down to the last of her days and I can remember these days better than the beginning.  This time last year it was just hard for her.  she was trying real hard to keep going and always put on her best face and even tried to talk to the nurses and the PA at the Dr office.  It was so hard to watch.  But even this time last year her body was shutting down but Jetta was still trying to fight.  But she had nothing to fight with.  Her brain did not work so well and for a sister who was always a step ahead of everyone, that was hard to watch.  So here I am and I miss her so much.  I know eventually it will get easier and until then I will do my best to grieve healthily.

Day 17: Jetta and Her Twin

Jetta and my younger daughter looked alike from early in both their lives.  I thought I would devote this day to Jetta and her twin niece.  There is nothing that makes her more special than all the others, just that they looked alike as toddlers.  There will be repeat pictures, so know I have not lost my mind in repeating some of these pictures.

Day 16: Jetta

In an attempt to deal with my grief, I have been reading books about near death experiences.  Now I did not come up with this idea myself, my other sister suggested it might help us to know where she is.  I went in search of that knowledge if not for sure at least to comfort my earthly mind.  I have now read 3 of these stories/books.  I just finished Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander, M.D.  I am highly recommending this book, especially to those of you who might read this and put a lot of stock in the scientific community.  His experience will open your mind to things you thought either you were the only one to think, or how crazy!  But none the less his description is impressive.  Towards the end he  adds a poem that touched my heart and I must share.  This was written by David M. Romano.  Here it is:

Day 15: Jetta and Her Ever Present Camera

Like I said before, for the few of you reading, our pictures of Jetta are fewer than of anyone in our family except the brother-in-law.  They were our photographers, and not just a little, they loved taking tons of pictures.  So today I am sending out pictures of Jetta taking pictures or of her ever present necklace, the camera.

Day 14: Jetta

Some days are better than others.  Today is not one of those.  I am recalling this time last year and with the husband gone and even so busy that there is not a lot of communication, it feels like I am a bit alone.   There is nothing wrong with being alone, just sometimes it helps to share with someone.

Day 12, 13: Jetta

I did not forget again, just had enough of a headache that I did not post after my upholstery class.  I finally finished the little green chair, well except for adding the new legs.  It is still in the car.  I carried it out the to the car last night and carried the new chair into class.  This always happens when the husband is out of town. Although the chairs were not real heavy, they were bundle-some and so they felt heavy.  My asymmetrical channel back chair is going to be a difficult chair to cover.  The teacher and I will be learning together.  YIKES!

Day 10, 11: Whoops! I Missed a Day

I missed a day.  Not because I forgot, I was just really busy.  I know I could have squeezed in a short post.  UGH!
On a brighter note, we celebrated Mema for mother's day last night.  It was a regular get-together with family that were in town and ones form out of town.  It was fun and typically busy as always but mother thought it was confusing.  She had trouble with the coming and going and in and out and was bumfuzzled.  She is becoming more and more childlike and lost.  So sad to see.

Here are some more great pictures of Jetta and family that she so dearly loved.

Day 9: Our Jetta

Jetta loved to cook.  She lived alone so she learned to cook with our mother and she cooked a lot when mother couldn't anymore.

Day 8: Sister Day

This day was what we called sister day.  It was the day I changed Jetta's life forever.  I was her 4th birthday gift.  She always told me  that our mother woke her up at 6 am for birthday cake because she was going to the hospital to have me.  We went on to have 57 birthdays together.  This was my first birthday ever alone.  It was not what I ever wished for but my children made me glad I had children.  They made the day just an ordinary day with them without the hoop-la of a celebration.  I really did not want a celebration.

More pictures of Tia Jetta

New Chair

This chair is a barrel-back with rollers.  It was very hard to strip and I left twice as many staples as I removed and that is saying a lot.

Day 7: Jetta, Jetta, Jetta...

She had certain faces she made and family will know and recognize these faces.  She had a mischievous side.
.

Day 6: A Dear Sister

Jetta was a dear sister.  Being the middle child, she had many attributes  of a middle child.  She teased about being the least favorite child, but we all know she was the favorite.  She was very soft spoken but fiercely loyal to her family but mostly to her faith in God.  I couldn't have ask for a better sister to follow.

Day 5: Jetta

Since our daddy died when our mother was 58, Jetta and Mema spent a lot of time together.  Jetta never married and did not date.  She was 27 when he died.  Jetta and mother were companions.  They took vacations together and she accompanied mother to see her relatives in Texas.  

Day 4: Jetta

I love this picture of Jetta.  She had beautiful eyes and bad eyesight.  She eventually had glaucoma, but had it under control.  There are not a ton of pictures of Jetta because she was behind the camera most of the time.  She loved to take pictures and her favorite subjects were her nieces and nephews.  I have been scouring my pictures to find a few of her.  By the end of May I will have more pictures.  I know I should follow some sort of pattern here but it is going to be random and as the spirit moves me.

Day 3: Jetta As a Child

Here are a few pictures of Jetta as a baby and a young child.  She looked very happy.

Day 2, Jetta As Tia Jetta

Jetta never married and never had children but her nieces and nephews were her life.  There are 11 total.  Some of those were grand nieces and nephews.  The first two were super special, not that the others were any less but these two were first.

May, 31 Days to Honor Jetta

I will spend the next 31 days honoring my sister Jetta.  I started this morning with one of my favorite pictures of me and my sister.  As I said earlier I miss her so much.  I wanted more time with her.  I would not want her to leave the wonderful place she is just for me, so I will just deal with my empty spot for my sister and meet her someday.

Many more pictures to come.  I loved my sister so much.

May Day

I always loved the month of May.  I am sure the earliest reason was because it was my birthday month.  It was also Mother's Day, and I loved treating my mother special.  It was also my mother's birthday month.  Some of the other reasons:  the end of school, the beginning of summer, Memorial Day, graduations twice in my life, all things I looked forward to.  One of my most special memories was my birthday.  Unlike most people I shared my birthday with my Jetta.  Sure she teased me about how I ruined her 4th birthday by being born, but we all knew that we had something very special.  I took for granted that I would have her to share this month with for a long time but this time last year proved me wrong.  This time last year was sort of very trying and sad.  Jetta was past the time when she communicated very much.  She was in too much pain.  As I go through this month that usually was a very happy month for me I will reflect back on my life with my sweet sister.  Jetta, I miss you terribly!