Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Making Cakes with Mom


There are a lot of challenges in caring for someone who struggles deeply with addiction. One of the more painful are the unfulfilled promises. Over the past four years it has made me so angry when mom would promise my children something that I knew would never happen. Somehow it had become okay with me when she did this to me, but NOT my children. The last year was particularly difficult with the oldest. We would see her just out of the hospital or as we took her to the store and every time she would promise my boys to make little cakes with them....a train at Christmas, Eggs for Easter, Bugs for the spring and summer. Each time I knew this would not happen. We drove by her apartment everyday and the oldest would ask if we could stop and make these cakes with Grandma Patti. "Another time," I would say.

When mom died I realized that the saddest thing about these unfulfilled promises was that Mom so wanted them to come true....probably even more than my boys did. So, as a way to share my sweet mom with my children and my nephews my aunt baked the bug cakes and we let them decorate them. We told them that they were from Grandma Patti. They loved every second of it. Now, my boys tell me all the time how much they love Grandma Patti.





THANKS!!!! Aunt Claudia

Thinking of Mom

Grief is such a strange thing. I have moments of normal and then hours of contemplation. Mom had been sick for so long and some of the better memories of her had faded. It was strange when she died...it was like all of these old memories flooded back into my head. Here are some pictures that remind me of those times.


Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Home Sweet Home

This summer has obviously not gone exactly as planned, but I can't say it has been bad. I have always been very social.....OUT and ABOUT. That is my style. Instead, lately I have stayed close to home. It has led to some much needed private/family time. Today we made Green Eggs and Ham for no reason other than it seemed like a good idea. We also made freshly squeezed lemonade. The oldest wanted pink....a little food coloring and voila. I have also been enjoying these lovelies out of my flowerbed....fresh every couple of days. I really need to freshen the current ones.
This lifestyle is sure to be short lived, but right now it is being sustained by my precious friends who stop by with food. Not just any food, but this.....

and this!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Sweet Little Bird

We called my maternal grandfather Papa. My sisters and I visited him often and he loved to joke around and tease us. I remember sitting with him for hours watching old movies and game shows on hot summer days. The only rule was, “don’t sit in Papa’s chair.” The punishment for such an offense, he would sit on YOU.

I was in high school when we learned Papa had developed lung cancer. It had never really occurred to me that the grandparents I had loved so much would not be with us forever. I was heartbroken. The lung cancer eventually went into remission but when it came back, it came back with a vengeance. Cancer traveled into his bones and later into his brain. The sweet, loving grandfather I had once known was now stern and angry. The only thing that made him smile was sitting in his living room looking at the birds that frequented his bird feeders. He specifically pointed one out to me one day. It was a sweet little brown bird with a yellow breast.

A week or so later I sat in my creative writing class and wrote a poem about a little yellow bird that finally found his way. In my mind this little bird was my Papa and he had found a place to be free from pain and fear of death and leaving his family. I was so proud of this poem, but not confident enough to do anything with it other than leave it in my blue and white striped journal.

I thought of this poem often in the months leading up to his death. I thought of it especially when I sat on the curb in the front of his house as the firemen volunteered to come and move him from his bed to the hospital bed that had been delivered. He winced in pain and the agony could be heard and felt a couple of houses down. I thought of this poem when I sat with him the last two weeks of his life as his body got weaker and weaker and each breath more shallow. I thought of this poem the morning that we woke up before dawn and realized that the first night we all went to sleep Papa took his last breath.

The thought of the peace and hope that came from this bird I had imagined in my head has brought me comfort in the 10 years since my Papa’s death. I would think of its innocence and sweet song when I would imagine what my grandfather would say about my mom and all of her struggles.

Days, weeks, years passed and the memories of this bird and the pain of the loss of my Papa became more and more faint. But the pain of what to do for my mother, how do I help her, how do I tell her I love her grew heavier on my heart. The place I found solace was our summer home in New Mexico. There I could go and feel close to God and Creation. It was here, the week of Mom’s death, the bird came to see me again.

I arrived at the cabin Monday afternoon. It was a beautiful day and I was surprisingly energetic after an 8 hour car ride with two toddlers. I walked in and looked out the window and there was this little bird looking back at me. I smiled, walked away and went on with our unpacking. I went in to check on dinner a little while later….there the bird sat still looking at us. Later, I gave the boys a bath to calm them down and ease them into bedtime. I looked out the window at Hermit’s Peak and was distracted by that bird that was watching our nighttime routine. I walked in and commented to my aunt, “I think that bird just wants to watch us.”

The next day my aunt and I laughed each time we would notice the bird sitting on the fence watching us as we went about our day. At one point she commented that she might take some food to that side of the cabin, “maybe he is frightened to go to the front.” I looked out at her sweet face and said, “no, I think she just likes watching us.”

Wednesday morning the bird watched us make breakfast and I said, I think that bird has a name. In my head it was Lucy, but my aunt said she had been calling her Lucille. We laughed and went about our business of sewing and tending to the kids. I told the bird goodnight when I saw her as the sun was setting knowing I would see her again in the morning.

I woke up Thursday morning to a spectacular day. We decided to go on a picnic up at Johnson’s Mesa. I made sandwiches and we gathered the boys. I went into brush my teeth as the phone rang. It was my husband, “Your mom is dead,” he said. I took a deep breath, it was like I had been punched in the stomach. We spoke briefly about details and I told him I was on my way home. I hung up the phone and walked to the kitchen window. I looked out and saw the bird peering in….it wasn’t until then that I realized that the bird had a yellow breast and made the connection that my Papa’s wife’s given name was Lucye, we called her Nanny. My mom had found peace and was with her parents now. That was what the bird was trying to tell me all week.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Where have I been?

Patti Powell Brown
1951-2009

My mother died on May 21st.  This has been a very difficult time for me and my family. We are deep in the middle of grieving and healing, but I have a lot of wonderful memories of my mother that I look forward to sharing with you all.

The funeral service for Patti Brown, 57, of Oklahoma City, formerly of Enid, will be 3 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, 2009, at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, Watchhorn Chapel, Oklahoma City, with Revs. Wendy Lambert and Linda Brinkworth officiating. Burial will be in South Heights Cemetery, Sapulpa. Service is under the direction of Brown-Cummings Funeral Home. A register book is available at Brown-Cummings Funeral Home for friends to sign.Patti was born on Nov. 13, 1951, in Tulsa to Jesse and Lucye Maxey Powell, and died Thursday, May 21, 2009, in Oklahoma City.Patti was raised in Sapulpa and graduated from Sapulpa High School. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor's degree in accounting. At the University of Oklahoma, Patti was a member of Chi Omega Sorority and Beta Gamma Sigma. In 1974, Patti married Gary L. Brown in Sapulpa. Patti was a certified public accountant and worked in the Tulsa office of Arthur Andersen and Co. She later moved to Enid, where she was in private practice until four years ago. Patti was a member of First Presbyterian Church of Enid and served on the board of deacons. She was a member of PEO, Chapter Q, and served as president. She also was a member of Junior Welfare League, served on the board of directors of Enid Public School Foundation and was treasurer of Enid Food 4 Kids.Patti is survived by three daughters, Amy and husband, Dillon Curran, of Oklahoma City, Tracy and husband, Tim Dowell, of Oklahoma City and Mary Brown and fiance, Joel Siria, of Norman; grandchildren, John Adam, Nathan, Jesse and Charlie; and two brothers, Steve Powell of Tulsa and Bill Powell of Sapulpa. Patti was preceded in death by her parents.Memorials may be made to the deacons fund of First Presbyterian Church with Brown-Cummings Funeral Home serving as custodian of the funds.Condolences may be made to the family online at brown-cummings.com.(Paid Obit 5-25-1)
Published in The Enid News & Eagle from 5/24/2009 - 5/26/2009