Memories of Love

 

I lost my grandma Lucy one week after Mother's Day.  It wasn't unexpected and we knew the end was imminent, but that didn't make it any easier.  I'm glad that my son's have many memories of her and I don't want them to ever forget her.  More importantly, I'm glad that I made a point during the last couple of years to photograph Lucy as much as I could as well as documenting her last few months for our family.

My youngest son and Lucy had a special relationship.  He was her 'baby boy'.  When she was at her crabbiest he would sing for her and make silly jokes, getting a giggle and smile out of her when no one else could.  When she was dying I told him he didn't have to go to the hospital to see her because I knew how difficult it was, but he insisted.  I'm doing it for her, he would say, tears in his eyes, she needs me.

I had been trying to come up with ways to somehow use my photos of Lucy as sort of a memorial to her when the opportunity came to get a canvas print from Hello Canvas. I knew immediately what I was going to do.  I showed my son all the pictures I had taken of Lucy over the past couple of years and told him to pick his favorite one to be used.  When our package arrived only 5 days later, we couldn't wait to open it.  I don't know who was more excited about it, me or my son!  Once it was opened, we propped the canvas up and stood back and looked at it in awe.  It immediately brought tears to my eyes.  Mama, my son said excitedly, MeeMaw would be so happy!  Not only would Lucy be happy, my son is happy and that is everything.  Thank you, Hello Canvas, for your help in keeping the memory of Lucy alive, just as it should be.

What about you? Do you do anything special with your photos to remember those that are no longer with us? Please share with us your ideas or show us in a photo what you have done.  We'd love to see your memories of love, too. 

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Hello Giveaway! It’s random giveaway time again from our friends at Hello Canvas. YAY!

Leave a comment here between now and Thursday at midnight and you could win a 20X24 canvas of your photo of choice from Hello Canvas!  Hello, indeed!

EDITED TO ADD:

Thank you all so much for the response on this post! Hello Canvas was so touched by this conversation of Love that they are now offering 40% off all orders when you use our promo code HELLOSISTERS! HELLO!

And thank you sisters, for sharing your beautiful, sweet, warm comments with us.  You have truly touched me. 

Comments

[shannon]

What an amazing picture. I lost my grandmother, my best friend, a few years ago and unfortunately do not have any recent photos of her. We did, however, find a picture from the 30's of her in her restaurant with my Grandfather. My dad had the photo blown up to a 20X? size and framed for all of us kids. It hangs proudly and prominately in my house. I smile whenever I pass by it. My thoughts are with you and your beautiful family!

[Le]

That is an exceptional photo with an even better memory. Thanks for sharing

[Farrell]

What a beautiful photograph - it captures the spirit of MeeMaw. There are so many nice ones that will enable your kids to remember her always.

[Catherine V]

That is a lovely canvas and story, too! I would get a canvas of a self-portrait I took with my mother last year. We just celebrated the one-year anniversary of her adopting me (yes, adult adoptions do exist. crazy!).

[yvonne]

i love the idea of photos on canvas. lovely story.

[Patti A]

My sons make fun of me for always having my camera. But its a post like this that encourages me to keep it close by. The photo of your son holding the canvas is as beatiful as is the photo of his Grandma.

[Jamie]

I haven't done anything special with photos of my brother, who died twelve years ago. Eventually, I'd like to scan them and do something with them, though.

He planted irises at his house shortly before his death...every time I see irises, I think of him.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrs-eaves/3513511054/

[Lacey]

What a tribute! Beautiful photo! Your son seems like an amazing kid.

[Laura]

I'm originally from Destin, but don't live there anymore. I went to visit the first week of June and took pics of my kids on the beach. I'm so glad I did because the oil made it to their beautiful beaches the week after we left. I know that I will cherish these images for years to come, and I'd love to have a canvas print of one of those pics.

[Lori]

Love this photo. How wonderful for these two to have been able to share time together.

I am looking at Hello Canvas now as my husband wants this picture of him and his granddaughter blown up big.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanderwood/4728345370/

[joey]

We love sharing our older photos with the kids to keep those precious memories alive.

[Jamye]

Because my brother passed away years before my children were born, they will only ever know "Uncle Bryan" through photos. I ordered a photo book of photos of my brother from childhood up to his death, age 25, using on each page, the question "Where is Uncle Bryan?" and answering with a rhyming couplet that captioned the photo. On the final page, a photo of him flying in his military aircraft in which he perished, I answered the question, "Where is Uncle Bryan?" by saying that on his final flight God called him home to heaven.

[patti]

Praying for you and your family during this time of loss. What a heartwarming story. Thanks for introducing me to Hello Canvas . . . thinking of which photo(s) I'd like to order.

[Jami]

What a beautiful picture. And I love the picture of your son with the picture. Such a special bond between gramma's and grandson's. His memories of her are priceless.

[Kylie]

Such a beautiful story and beautiful tribute.

[Gail]

The canvas came out beautifully and this photo should be used by Hello Canvas to promote sales!...It certainly would work. My sister died in December and I hope to make a photo book of her life ...there are never enough pictures...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22733432@N08/4727782035/

[sarah]

this is just so touching, brought tears to my eyes reading and seeing the love in your post... i have no photographs of my maternal grandparents, so i have no visual representation to show my children, but i am creating a scrapbook of memories that i hold on to so dearly, trying to vividly describe smells and sounds and recapturing places when an opportunity arrives. it is my hope although we have no visual images, that when my children grow and close their eyes they are reminded of the stories that we will share of my granny and grandad...

[Jennifer]

What a beautful way to hold onto to your memories of her.

[Tracy]

You inspired me-even if I don't win-I'm ordering one I have of my gram with my daughter-they are sharing my gram's pearl necklace when she was just a baby-I miss her and having that picture around would make me smile-especially if it's big in my daugther's room!

[Jeanne]

This is so beautiful - I'm sorting through my pics now looking for one of my grandma.

[Shelly E.]

Such a beautiful tribute/rememberance of someone special. Thank you for sharing. It makes me sad all over again that my special grandmother didn't get the chance to know her great grandchildren. She unexpectedly passed away when all three of us (myself, my sister and my sister-in-law) were pregnant with our first children.

[Marci]

Beautiful post once again. What a wonderful way to celebrate Lucy's life and celebrate you and your son's love for her as well. Just love your website.

[claudia]

What a beautiful tribute. I looked through your set with tear filled eyes wishing I had had the foresight to photograph my Dad more when he was dying 6 yrs ago. I hadn't renewed my love with photography yet, I did at least get a couple of videos of him. It's still hard to watch them. I keep snap shot type photos around to remember him daily, but a canvas would be spectacular!
What a beautiful, beautiful way to remember her.

[Kate]

I love that these are becoming reasonably priced now, what a great way to preserve memories.

[Saj]

What a beautiful portrait! It makes me want to take pictures of my family all the time, every day, every chance I get!

[krista]

What a great idea and photo. Would love to have a canvas for our living room.

[Shari]

Oh wow.. Love love that portrait in black and white..

Oh this gives me an idea to do one of my grandma!!

[Kiley]

My grandmother just celebrated her 95th birthday. I missed the party because I live 7,500 miles away. I wish I had been there with my camera!

[Melonie]

Beautiful post and so sorry for your loss. Love that you had your son pick the photo you would use. He did a fantastic job and the canvas is beautiful:)

[Rachel Perry]

What a sweet picture...

[Phyllis]

What a special young man and what a lovely picture of your grandmother. I need to get one of these of my dad.

[Sara S]

What a great idea, I'm inspired to take photos of our loved ones too.

[Shawna]

Lovely post. My grandmother is going to be 86 this year and still swims every morning at her local pool. I am so grateful that my children are getting the chance to get to know her.

[AnnaNova]

ive found this site recently and have been really enjoying it a lot. my son and his grandma have a very special relationship. hell, sometimes i think i should probably get mad or offended, he just loves her so much, jumps out of my arms when we get to her house, and cries and cries and cries when we leave. however, i understand how short lived this period in their lives is. she is 70+, he is 16 mo.... the sad truth is there is no way of telling how short their relationship will be, but i hope their special bond will be everlasting...

[Kara]

What a beautiful picture and sweet story.
Love seeing it on the canvas!

[Bree]

Lovely all around... what a special thing for you, your son, and Grandma Lucy too. :)

[Rene]

A special photo documenting a special relationship!

[brittany]

such a beautiful photo!

[Lori]

beautiful photo & lovely tribute...

[Mira]

what a beautiful photo. thank you for sharing.

[jag]

Such a beautiful story... and image! Sounds like you have a son with a wise soul, to be so connected already. Thanks for sharing it here!
jag xox

[~ kristina ~]

how wonderful for your son to have known his great-grandma!

[Robin]

They say a picture is worth a thousands words...I say you hit right on the mark. Congratulations on documenting such a wonderful piece of memory for your son(s)!

[Angela]

What a touching post!!! The photo is just gorgeous and one to be cherished forever!

[Jennifer]

What an amazing photo that is!!! Wonderful...touching.

[Donna]

This is wonderful, I would love to do something like this for my fiance, he lost his grandmother a couple years ago to lung cancer and continually talks about all the things they did together, I know he misses her very much.

[Heather M.]

what a brave and self-less thing for your son to do! beautiful photo!

[Tracy]

You know, I haven't done anything special to honor the memory of someone but I feel very inspired hearing your story. So sweet. Thank you.

[denise S.]

A beautiful way to remember someone.

[Carrie]

That is just beautiful.