Parting - Shirts and Medals

Her first 5K was across the Luling Bridge crossing the Mississippi River west of New Orleans. April 13, 2002.  SHE ran with my husband, I am the cheerleader.  At the end there was beer and jambalaya to celebrate.  SHE was hooked.  SHE was fifty one, her time was thirty three minutes and forty eight seconds.  She came in 136th out of 725 women. After this, much was to follow, 5K's, 10K's, half marathons, marathons, neighborhood runs.  I filled a 30 gallon tub with running shirts.

The first two shirts and medals went to guardian angels.  Without these temporary humans she would not have been blessed with one additional year of life.  They worked behind the scenes to keep her safe that summer of 2010, had extraordinary perceptions and connections.  Is there any way to express gratitude?  The shirt on the left is from the Marine Corp Marathon, perhaps the hardest race she ever ran our brother said who was her companion and champion on many of her runs.  And the Chicago Marathon 2003 shirt on the right was favorite,  the first of many Chicago runs.

I didn't think to take a photo of everything before I started to part.  Her medals hung in a group on the mirror door of her medicine cabinet, inspiration I think from the first moments in the morning.  These are just some of them.  It was a fine balancing act for her to keep them all on the mirror.  

The parting of shirts and medals was actually started by her and how I thought to pass these on.  What powers they should bring to the new owner.  My suggestion to a couple of people was to wear it as an undershirt, Superman style, to give them that breakout strength needed for tough times.  SHE certainly knew about that.

SHE gave the first shirts to our scrawny bird-legged niece, young wife and mom and now runner herself. Who knew?   I made sure to add the matching medals.  

2009 Gasparilla Half Marathon

2006 Walt Disney World Half Marathon

2007 Bank of America Marathon (Tampa)

2008 Chicago Marathon

There were two shirts and medals from the Country Music 1/2 Marathon 2004, 2008 that were sent to our sister in Tennessee along with the Chicago Marathon 2008. Also to her the lone NYC Marathon Medal 2006 with no shirt, I think SHE wore that one out.  My husband wanted the Mardi Gras Marathon set from 2004.  There were three OUC 1/2 marathons 2005, 2006, 2007 sent to her neighbors kids who helped their parents watch over her house, mowed her grass and included her as part of their family.

Gasparilla Half Marathon 2008 went to another neighbor kid, who really isn't a kid anymore but SHE loved watching the three generations of women in this family and became part of their family too.  Winter Park 2008 10K was for the kids mother and neighbor extraordinaire - I can't even begin to list the things done to help.  There is never enough thanks.

These are the last, I am not sure I kept track of everything as I tried to move these on quickly.  There was a Deland Thanksgiving ten mile/5K for another colleague who we were most thankful for during crisis.  A Chicago Marathon 2004 shirt with long sleeves for someone SHE worked with to keep her warm as her friendship gave my sister genuine warmth.  The Suzuki Rock and Roll Marathon goes to our nephew, a young dad who is one that can use this as his Superman shirt as he assimilates his parenting skills.  Women Rule the World.  There were three of these medals but only one shirt and it was well worn.  I sent that one to our niece who is a new mom, not sure what it is good for really as it is the most worn of all the gifted shirts but maybe just put it in a drawer somewhere for strength and love, pull it out when you need to find your inner power. (The bottom right shirt was for neighbor extraordinare in above paragraph. 

This isn't a complete accounting of all her running by any means. There were missing shirts and missing medals. And I sent four Orangewood 5K shirts to her neighbors who inspired their church/school through her to start an annual run.  SHE was relentless with her passion, working to convince anyone she could to take up this same pursuit that gave her so much satisfaction, sense of achievement and self respect.  

Whenever SHE ran, SHE ran with a photo of our mother secured to her for inspiration and fortitude.  I will take the leftover remaining shirtless medals and turn them into Christmas ornaments to hang on my tree every year, a solemn but meaningful recollection.  

Keeping - Shell Seekers

I stitched every night for years, it used to drive my husband crazy.  Once the kids were in bed I would find relaxation and relief by sitting and stitching on linen.  You need to worry I told him when I am not stitching as then there is a problem. Therapy.

After the seaside sisters went up on her wall, I could only add more.  SHE never went over the top with the nautical theme like I did, SHE seemed to have more fun contributing to mine.  Shell Seekers though was perfect for her. There are only two sisters in this piece but then our third sister was a landlocked landlubber who stayed in Tennessee when we migrated to a tropical locale.  So it qualifies.......we shared an immense love of the seaside, the smell, the salt, the sand.  SHE preferred secluded beaches while I favored the busier ones so we took turns getting our way. 

So now the Shell Seekers hang in my powder room.  

Somehow though I always felt that missing sister.  So when I saw a third sister all alone, well I stitched it too as there were three of us, and it has always hung in my house.  Now it is not far from the seekers.  Memories of simpler days, simpler times.

Parting - Seaside Sisters

We used to send each other things depicting three sisters.  I found this piece in a gallery on Royal Street and instantly bought it for her.  The colors were so vivid you could almost smell the salt water.  SHE hung it in her bathroom and began her own nautical look.

So needless to say, when there was another one in the gallery window then she had a pair.  

It's funny how sometimes you just know who would share this kindred spirit of three sisters.  So parting with these pieces was a no brainer for me.  

D is one of the most remarkable women I have known and is one of three sisters.  Accomplished professionally D stood apart from the way I have seen most women lead, a style of her own.  There has been incredible tragedy in her life that sometimes just seems endless but there is no waffling or hesitation,  just pressing forward. D has great wisdom and is someone whose advice I know I can seek and respect.  What my sister would have liked most about D though, is her dedication, commitment to and love of her own mother, going the distance, just as SHE did.  The fisherwomen go to her, supplier of sustenance.

J just makes me smile, can be crazy goofy and great fun to be around. Another survivor, we met at a bumpy time in both our lives, a time that will stay significant for the two of us always.  J's bumps were  more severe than mine but she kept a sense of humor and helped me muddle through my own worries while surviving hers.  J has three daughters,  is a devout mother, one of the best, totally dedicated to her family. It is hard work that will pay off in the long run as the daughters have witnessed her strength through a very difficult time.  The bathers go to J, tender protector.

I was unable to decipher the signature of the artist.  So I hit Royal Street to try and find the gallery that had them.  After two Sunday's search I gave up.   Finally one gallery owner led me to believe the shop where I bought them has since closed, he was familiar with the style of work they dealt in.  So the name of the artist may be secret forever.  I have learned a lot from these two women, grateful for their influence.   I am pleased with this parting, the ladies are with kindred spirits.  

Keeping - Cats

SHE was a dog person.  Lexie and I, cat people - they own us.  

I found this timeworn cat hidden in the bottom of a box of Lexie's things.  The glaze is crackled and the ears have been broken off but there is still something quite remarkable about this piece. I can only imagine its age and history.  So it will stay in my dining room to remind me of Lexie and my sister and the stories I have yet to discover, stories I wish I knew. 

My mini dachshund lived for sixteen years, he was perfect.  He grew up with a kitten I rescued on the side of a busy street.  They were best friends, Snuffy groomed Rex every night.  He fit right in with the other cats, we have had many.  Actually Rex thought he was a cat.  I was convinced my sister's herd of dogs would be better behaved if they had a cat to play with, or manage them is what I was really thinking, so in jest I bought this one for her.  Well at least I can say I was wrong, those dogs didn't even think this cat was even worth chewing up.  So it has come back and sleeps on Lexie's sofa, a reminder some dogs just will never be cats.  And likewise, SHE was who SHE was, regardless.

Parting - Seabiscuit

Did I mention the garage?  It is a story in itself but for now just a piece of it.  It was time to move things from where they were.  We had considered the garage another mystery room.  And we were right, we have split it up, taken it from there to sort it out and see just what we find.  

Many of Lexie's and my mother's things were still in trunks, tubs or boxes, wrapped however they were left when SHE acquired them.  We had limited time to load them up for elsewhere, trying to leave behind things that were obviously not worth savalging, she had saved everything.  There was a good amount of items packed in old newspapers and I would always give a curious glance to the date of publication and publisher just for curiosity and toss it away or rewrap.  This one I looked at quickly and tossed aside.  One of my sons however took a closer look and surprised the rest of us.

Seabiscuit wins a race. The Florida Times Union, Jacksonville, Florida was dated August 13, 1938.  "Seabiscuit is Victorious in Photo Finish." The race was on August 12, Del Mar Racetrack, Del Mar, California.  It was a nose victory and the press seemed pleased with the win, referring to the horse almost affectionately as "the Biscuit" several times in the column.  Interestingly the challenging horse, Ligaroti, was owned by Bing Crosby.  Mr. Crosby had even hired a college-boy rooting section dressed in his colors to cheer his "standard-bearer," yet all the yells were of no avail.  The winning pot of gold was $25,000.

Researching a bit more I found that Seabiscuit ran 89 races, won 33 and was horse of the year in 1938.  Bing Crosby, with a few friends, built the racetrack in Del Mar in 1937 and this race was set to promote it.

Bubby, lives across the street from me. He was born in that house in 1932.  Having him as a neighbor is as good as having your own private neighborhood watch.  He takes Mike, his pomeranian, on endless walks and works in his flower beds alternating blooms with the seasons.   They sit on the front porch, sometimes just them, sometimes with extended family of three generations, or is it four who share the house?

He was a professional jockey back in the day.  He once told me if anyone had ever told him he would be planting flowers and walking a prissy little dog he would have knocked them out!  He has settled into a nice lifestyle of retirement surrounded by family and neighbors who consider him family.

I asked him about horse racing as the newspaper quickly made me think of him.  He told me his family sent him off to Chicago because he was getting into too much trouble!  He raced for about fifteen years, he was too tall and of course the weight was always a struggle.  But it was an era of memories.  His first race was in 1951 (the year SHE was born) at Washington Park in Chicago.   He won that first race, Joe Graves was the horse.  I didn't win the race he told me,  I just got on the horse and he took off!

I can only wonder if SHE saw the article, SHE was more careful than I was and I am sure went through it all before stuffing it away and knows what we will find. Horses were one of her first loves but our dad could only find donkeys or mules for us to ride.  SHE would be pleased I gave the old man the article as he told me he has scrapbooks with his own yellowed, fragile newspaper reports of his life. I will ask to see these.

Keeping - Shalimar

SHE was a blue jeans and flannel shirt kind of girl.  Nothing fancy about her really.  Back in the day (oh how I love to say that), girls in Tennessee only wore dresses to school.  SHE loved winter as then it was okay to wear jeans under your skirt.  You can't really be a tomboy in a dress.  SHE never lost the tomboyness.  Bicycling, tennis and rock climbing along with anything else outdoors became adulthood pleasures. SHE would lay in the grass with the kids that lived across the street from her just to look at the sky,  amazing those parents.

That said,  I was surprised to find SHE had this girly bottle of Shalimar.  SHE quietly said it was a gift so I didn't pursue more information but certainly someone saw her feminine side. Truly, SHE had one. Rarely did SHE dress up but when SHE did it was like watching the butterflies in her backyard.  Maybe SHE knew all along SHE was a cocoon at heart but transformed once in a while to show the rest of us SHE could be a butterfly if she wanted to.  SHE said SHE didn't wear the perfume really but clearly some was missing.  I am not sure how long SHE had it before I spied it mixed in with other things on her vanity, my limited research found this particular bottle possibly dates back to 1978, who knows?  When I would visit every now and then I would ask to try some.  It has become a lasting memory as smells certainly conjure up emotional remembrances.  I will keep this Shalimar, save it for special days when I need her close.

Parting - Sea Oats

I have this nautical powder room in my house.  It sort of developed by accident.  When we bought our house this room had fishing lure wallpaper.  Yes, go head, imagine.  But of course it was low on the priority list of upgrades that "new" houses usually need.  Then on a summer trip back to Florida, we sisters spent a day in Mt. Dora and I found a vintage, humble, homemade mirror surrounded in seashells, the entire thing backed with a piece of someone's leftover wall panelling, the worst kind.  It was perfect I decided, to detract the lures.  And so inspiration was born and almost 20 years later the wallpaper remains but it is covered with anything I could find that was nautically relevant and only the most observant visitor even notices the fishing lures.  SHE has made many contributions to the collection on these walls, most of them vintage.

My first thought however when I really studied this likeness of sea oats was that it should go to my friend Fran.  They just finished building a beachfront home on the Mississippi coast to replace the one that blew away with Katrina, the view from the front porch is a sea oats covered shore. And yet I was pulled somehow to keep it.  There isn't much wall space left in the powder room really but it would fit, I loved the beach as SHE did.  When I looked at it there were many memories of long ago days SHE and I spent at Daytona and New Smyrna.  Anyone remember the ice cream man who drove the jeep with deer antlers mounted on the hood?  Her rusted beach chair, sadly, had to be departed....left on her back porch the last year or so and open to the elements it was beyond recovery.

Fran called, lets have breakfast.  It had been a good while since I had free time to spend with anyone, life speeds up, hard to slow down and as one friend reminds me - stop and smell the Live Oaks.  Hearing her voice I knew the sea oats were for her.

So we met for breakfast on Magazine Street early.  We caught up on each others lives, compared losses, worries, frustrations, joys, laughter and hugs only as women do.  We walked to our cars and I offered this gift from my sister to her.  You can always tell the truth by watching someone's face.  Fran was two hundred percent delighted.  I felt guilt for ever wanting to keep it.  We looked closer as Fran was curious as to who the artist was.  In the right hand corner it had been signed by an artist from Tampa - Fran Hancock.  For a second Fran was speechless.....I live in Hancock County she said, its a sign!

So, the sea oats painted by Fran Hancock went to Fran who lives in Hancock County.