My dear and loyal readers, please excuse the lack of posts being shared here the last few months. As some of you know, my mom got very sick at the end of April and was diagnosed with cancer ... and since then her health declined quickly.
At the end of June she was hospitalized for the 3rd time since her diagnosis. This time she spent over two weeks in the hospital. Her health rapidly declined during her hospital stay and on July 2nd my mom passed away. She was 66 years old.
Back in May, I wrote a little tribute recipe for my mom, Homemade Cherry Ice Cream Bon Bons ... at that time I had no idea my mom's health would decline so quickly, but I wanted her to know how much she meant to me. Sadly, she never got to read the post, but I'm glad that her life is a little part of that recipe.
My mom was such a beautiful woman inside and out. We were very close and talked every day. She was very close with Little Love too, every Saturday they had a playdate and Little Love looked forward to it every week.
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| My Beautiful Mom, November 1947 - July 2014 |
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| My Mom, 18 months old. |
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| One of my favorite photos of my mom, she was so happy. She was 17 in this photo. |
My mom was incredibly talented and had a gift for interior and landscape design. In the 1970s she worked for a commercial interior design firm in the Bay Area. She helped design several million square feet of premium office space in Northern California including getting to work on the Atari Headquarters. She even got to help design the interior of a client's private jet. Pretty cool!
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| Working with her friend Joyce in the late 70s. |
My mom loved her work, but she also wanted to be a mommy. She had always wanted to be a mom, that was very important to her. She kept a journal for me when she was pregnant with me. The first page says, "To my daughter Emily with more love than I ever knew my heart could hold."
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| My Beautiful Mom ... she always wanted to be a mom.
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| My Beautiful Mommy + Me
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In 1983, my mom and dad purchased and became owners of the original Fair Oaks Boulevard Nursery, which they owned until 1989. My mom ran the gift store and picked out the most beautiful things to sell. One of my favorite things that she found to sell were these beautiful hand painted eggs made by a local artist. My mom kept a bunch of her favorites that she displayed in her home. I loved our nursery! I had so much fun getting to grow up playing there. We had acreage and a pasture in the back of the property with goats and sheep ... Molly was our lop-eared goat, she was really sick though and died shortly after we got her. We also had Oliver, he was saved from a meat farm, he was mean and the oldest. Then there was Boo, the sweetest, kindest goat ... he would let me ride on him like a horse. The littlest goat was Sammie, my baby ... I got to pick him out. We also had two sheep, Pepsi and Lampchop {we didn't name them, the previous owners did}, they were very shy and basically just kept the pasture low.
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| Me + my Mommy ... adventures at the beach. |
My mom started doing landscape and home design full-time in 1986. She was able to get some clients through nursery customers and branched out from there. She designed many beautiful high-end gardens all over the Sacramento Valley and as far away as the Bay Area. She put so much love into the gardens she designed. She also designed some beautiful homes, inside and out. I remember a beautiful mural that she painted in one home in the wine cellar that she designed. She had such a gift, an amazing eye for color, and she truly knew how to make the interior of client's homes feel so warm and inviting.
My mom loved all things nature. She loved shade-gardens, Japanese maples, sycamores, 'Just Joey' roses and hydrangeas. She especially loved Jack London State Historic Park, the Pacific Coast and had some favorite towns in the Sierra Nevadas. Some of her favorite beach towns were Bodega Bay, Jenner, Mendocino, Half Moon Bay, Carmel and Monterey. She didn't get to travel much, but she loved going to Hawaii and had been there several times. One country that she always wanted to visit was Ireland. She thought it was one of the most beautiful places in the world and she had hoped to travel there someday.
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| My Mom + her favorite little person, Little Love, at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. |
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| Little Love's first trip to the snow. My mom helped her make her first snowlady. |
My mom loved a good crossword puzzle, she was good at Sudoku too. She also loved puzzles and had a favorite Mary Engelbreit puzzle that she did over and over.
She loved music too. My mom was always singing and she didn't care what anyone thought about her singing. She loved Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Eva Cassidy, Andrea Bocelli + sound tracks from Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, and Big River. In her last year of life, she enjoyed songs like "Happy" and the songs from Frozen {that was her favorite movie in her final months, she took Little Love to see it 7 times when it was in the theater, they loved the movie and loved watching it together}.
Fall was my mom's favorite season. She loved everything about it. She LOVED pumpkins and made a tradition of going to Apple Hill every year to pick pumpkins {I have continued this tradition with my girls}. She loved Halloween and she loved making costumes for herself, for me as a child, and for Little Love too. She made a pretty awesome Apple Pie during the fall, I sure loved getting to enjoy that as a kid.
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| My mom all dressed up for Halloween. She was a pretty glamorous witch. |
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| Little Love wearing her first Halloween costume, a Raccoon, designed and made by my mom. |
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| Little Love + my Mom, our last trip to Apple Hill. |
As you all know, I am passionate about good food. My mom and I may not have been on the same page about nutrition, but she loved food too and had many favorites. She loved a good Lemon Meringue Pie {so do I!} ... that was one of her favorite desserts, that and Root Beer Floats. She was not a chocolate lover, but she did love a slice of good chocolate cake with a glass of ice cold milk {another thing she never liked, the only time she ever had milk was with a piece of cake}. One of her favorite restaurants was Bette's Oceanview Diner, she loved their corned beef hash and pancakes. Some of her favorite comfort foods: a good pot roast, mashed potatoes, corned beef, cucumber + cream cheese + olive sandwiches on rye bread, 7 layer dip, egg salad sandwiches, a good sour dough baguette with cream cheese and a non-spicy pepper jelly, "Rye Toasties," and potato chips with french onion dip. She also loved crab, it was one of her favorite things to eat.
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| Me + My Mom, Japanese Tea Garden, San Francisco |
My mom was so talented in so many ways, but in my eyes, her purpose was being my mom. She was the most loving, dedicated mommy. These are some of my favorite memories of my mom ...
My mom loved to twirl her hair. It was a soothing thing for her. I would always see her doing this, I loved watching her, especially when she had her long hair. She also loved to braid my hair. She'd come up with new ways to braid my hair all the time, some elaborate, some simple. It was a bonding time for us.
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| My Mom w/ long, beautiful hair in the '90s. |
My mom threw the most magical birthday parties and tea parties for me. She put so much love and effort into making them special for me. From decorations, to food, to theme, she made sure they were perfect in every way.
We took many trips to the coast. We loved to go tide pooling and explore the beaches. We even stopped along the way to pick wild flowers to make our hotel rooms feel more beautiful {yes, she traveled with flower vases}. Sometimes we'd visit old cemeteries in these little towns and pick flowers to leave on graves too. She always found the coolest old cemeteries that had been there forever.
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| Tide Pooling on the Mendocino Coast. |
My mom had a gift for making flower arrangements. She taught me at a young age how to make a basic bunch of flowers look even more beautiful in a vase. I'm so glad she gave me those tips, although I never arranged flowers as beautiful as she did.
She took me to Disneyland as often as she could, sometimes once a year during my youth {her favorite ride was the Pirates of the Caribbean}. It was a long drive for us and we always brought the Beaches soundtrack, Carly Simon and The Judds ... I will never forget my mom singing along the way. Speaking of Beaches, that was one of our favorite movies when I was a kid. We watched it over and over throughout the years. It's going to be really hard getting through that movie without crying now.
We both got awful migraines, I still do. She would always rub my head when I got one. She had the most gentle, healing touch. Sometimes just her energy and soft touch by my temples could help soothe it, if not help the migraine go away. I will never forget how much love and attention she gave to me when I wasn't feeling well.
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| My first Christmas, my mom looks so happy + beautiful here. |
My mom made Christmas so special every year. During my childhood, we would decorate like crazy, she had so many Christmas decorations. She loved to play Dolly & Kenny Christmas music and sing and dance while decorating. It was always so much fun. She made our home look so magical every year. This will always be one of my favorite holidays because of the love and joy my mom put into it.
Introducing me to old movies was something that my mom loved. Our favorite movies to watch were Meet Me in St. Louis and Anne of Green Gables. We watched these hundreds of times over the years. They will always hold a special place in my heart.
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| Purple Lupine ... like Miss Rumphius had scattered. |
My mom always read to me every night. She aways found the greatest books to read to me. Some of our favorites were Miss. Rumphius and The Secret Garden, now I read these to Little Love and they're her favorite too.
My mom also introduced me to theater. She took me to see Big River in Sacramento and Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera in Los Angeles. We also traveled to New York once and we went to see Little Shop of Horrors and Into the Woods with Bernadette Peters. Such special memories! My mom also took Little Love to see her first play, Mary Poppins, in Sacramento. It was an amazing production, and something that Little Love will never forget.
My mom was always a shoulder to cry on. The day before my wedding, I went to pick up my wedding cake and the bakery had forgot to make the cake! I called my mom sobbing and she said, "don't let them steal one ounce of joy away from you, your day is too important" ... then she told me she would take care of it and pick up two special cakes from a different bakery. That's the kind of person my mom was, she was always helping people with a true heart of love.
I miss my mom so much ... but I am grateful for the time I had with her. I am grateful that she spent so much time with Little Love and that she was around for Tiny Love's first year of life. She was the best grandma to my girls and an incredible mom.
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| My Mom holding Tiny Love on the day I got married in Bodega Bay. |
"Once a Selkie finds its skin again, neither chains of steel nor chains of love can keep her from the sea." - The Secret of Roan Inish
... from one of my mom's favorite movies, she loved this movie so much and enjoyed getting to watch it with me when I was young + watch it with Little Love over and over.
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Chiska
What a difficult thing to go through, but what a beautiful tribute to your mom! Hugs.
Emily Sunwell
Thank you so much.
Anonymous
What a beautiful tribute to your Mom! So sorry for your loss...but you know you were well loved by her from the moment she knew you were on your way, and you have an abundance of beautiful memories to carry you through any difficult days. God bless...
Emily Sunwell
Thank you so much for your kind words.
Keisha
Thank you so much for introducing us to your mother. What an amazing woman. She lived a beautiful life and what a blessing she must have been to all who knew her.
I unfortunately don't have that kind of connection with my mom, although we are working on it. I hope that one day my children will remember me with the fondness, love and adoration that you have remembered your mother.
Emily Sunwell
I hope that things will get better for the both of you. I am sure that your children adore you. Thank you so much for sharing your sweet words with me.
agosto
hey... i'm sorry to hear this.
i'm one of your anonymous and loyal readers. just want to express my sympathy. I'd love this beautiful homage
Emily Sunwell
Thank you.
Kalinda
I'm so sorry for your loss. It sounds like your mom was a wonderful lady.
Emily Sunwell
Thank you so much.
Anonymous
I feel your loss my dad died suddenly the end of June and was probably the best dad and grandpa that u could ever imagine its hard to realize that he is gone,
Emily Sunwell
So sorry for you loss. My heart goes out to you.
cindy
Going through some of my older emails I came across this beautiful tribute to your mom. What a wonderful, dedicated and loving mother she was! My heart goes out to you as I know the lack of her presence will continue to be felt. Wishing you and your sweet family the best.
Emily Sunwell-Vidaurri
Thank you so much. I really appreciate your sweet words.
Phyllis Bowens
I am a new subscriber to your blog. I want to thank you so very much for sharing such beautiful and love inspired words about you mom. I am so very sorry for your loss. I am a mother of 6 beautiful blessings (4 sons and 2 daughters) no grand babies yet, lol. It was so touching to hear how special your mom was. Thanks again for sharing. Blessings to you and your beautiful family.
Emily Sunwell-Vidaurri
Thank you so much for your kind words! That made me teary reading this {joyful teary}, it was lovely to read something so thoughtful. Welcome and thanks again. Blessings to you and your family too.
S.
What a beautiful tribute to a wonderful and woman.
Thank you for sharing your mom with us.
Emily Sunwell-Vidaurri
Thank you xo
Anya
What a beautiful tribute to your mom, Emily. Sounds like she was a woman of many talents, one of which was to be your mother.
I currently live in the Sacramento Valley and we frequent Apple Hill this time of year. And we love going to Bodega Bay too for some fresh, crisp, salty air. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your heart. I'm sure the holidays will be tough since it's only the second year without your mama. Blessings!
Emily Sunwell-Vidaurri
Thank you for your kind heartfelt words Anya! Yes, she is very much on my mind. We live super close to each other 🙂 Such a small world.