Handbuilder Diary: More Worries.

My brother is sick, and it's making me worry...

My friend's mom died a few days ago, after suffering some insurmountable health problems. She was always so kind to me, and opened up her home with hospitality. Nancy was an amazing conversationalist, always asking insightful questions. She was a raconteur, passing this gift on to her son. Nothing was more entertaining than the time Grant recited the storyline from "Silence of the Lambs" to me over the phone. It was like listening to an audio book, with voice characterizations. Nancy worked hard to raise her three children, as a single mom. Each one of her children was blessed with creativity, wit, and kindness. Today, as I headed out to the studio, I was thinking about how difficult it is to lose a parent. The realization that a family connection has been lost, is hard to reckon with. Siblings feel cast adrift. I started to make some nichos for Grant, and for Susie, his wife. Hopefully, we can all put mementos in them, to remind us of our loved ones.

Mine will have a small china dog, that reminds me of my mom's family dog, Sabrina. My mom was not a pet person. As a young girl, her rabbit was attacked by a dog, and died. The family, made use of the rabbit meat, since it was during the Great Depression, and they were very poor. This left my mom, understandably, in a state. As an adult, she was not a fan of pets. She did, however, let us have fish tanks. She also once bought us a rabbit, after my brother built a cage in the yard. She was not a fan of cats, and accidentally closed the garage door on my cat, when I was in middle school. Although she felt bad, I was pretty sure that she didn't feel bad enough. In my later years, the pets that I owned would always want to play with her, but, she would have nothing to do with them. Sometimes, she would give my cat a reluctant pet with her foot. Her family owned a dog named Sabrina. I always wondered how she got along with her. It was before my time. Once, while paging through a photo album, I found a snapshot of her posing with a neighbor's dog. She was sitting on a lawn, smiling and petting the dog. I think that life on the farm left her with complicated emotions in regards to animals. Hopefully, the ceramic Sabrina will fit into the nicho. It might be a tight squeeze.

Rest in peace, Nancy...