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I have been walking around all week with a heavy heart. My bestie Mika got it correct when she said it was like losing my mother again but this is a little different. My Aunt Bert was my friend. I come from an old-fashioned Southern family where a child stayed in a child's place and since my mother died when I was 17 she never got to know me as an adult but my Aunt Bert did. She saw me become a mother and a wife. She supported me through my downs and celebrated my highs with me. She was a strong soul and always optimistic. She was super funny, especially when she had a little "taste" of Southern Comfort with me. She would attend any and every family graduation, bridal shower, recital, party, reunion whatever as long as her health would allow her to. She shared stories of the South, my mother, my family and just life in general. She loved to talk and she treated me like an adult. I got angry with her once for telling something that I told her in confidence but now I realize her telling what was going on in everyone's lives is what held our family together and now it is on us to keep in touch with one another. She was home, you know that comfortable warm place
where you know that you are safe. Her house, although small, was the best place for family gatherings. So much of my life has revolved around her and her family that I just feel a void. Today is the funeral where her body is laid to rest but she will forever live in me because she has truly made me the woman that I am today. I saw her the day before she died and she perked up a little when she knew that it was me and she said,
Aunt Bert is a little down, I am old, I am old" and I as watched her struggle to breathe I knew it was just a matter of time. Today even as the tears fall from my eyes I am celebrating my Aunt Bertha Mae Gamble, a truly strong black woman, mother of seven, friend and neighbor to many, whose love was too great for this earth!
The first card is a school themed card using Scenic Route Appleton scraps. I cut the apple out of cork and stamped the white A+ on black for a kind of chalkboard effect. the school stamps are from TPC studio.
Oh and I can't forget about the hubby. I think he is eating his worries away because he cooked dinner almost every night this week. One night I came in and he was chopping vegetables (one of his favorite things to do for some reason) to make shrimp creole. I had to devein the shrimp and clean them which was an big task since we purchased the wild caught instead of the farm raised but I have to tell you the end result was capital D delicious!
I was able to kick out a few cards this weekend that I can share tomorrow, but my to-do-list is growing everyday. I have a diaper cake to complete tonight and 
Last year Oriental Trading sent me a fun calendar that noted those obscure yet important holidays that get little mention in the press. Unfortunately I did not get another calendar this year but I when I found my calendar from last year in my desk drawer I thought it would be fun to share with my friends in blogland the dates for June and kick start your creativity for the month. Maybe one of these "holidays" will inspire you to create a card, layout or just get a chuckle that someone even thought of this, lol.
