Monday, April 30, 2012

Nanna

My mother’s mother, Vivian Rose Fazzone Jones, passed away from Alzheimer’s on Saturday morning. She was ninety. Nanna was a huge part of my life. I was lucky enough to live my entire life in the same town she lived in. Back when I was a kid, we all lived in New Jersey. She and her “handsome husband”, my Poppy, gave my parents some of their land here in South Carolina to build a house on, and that is why my family and I live here in South Carolina.

I will continue to miss her. I’ve been missing her for a very, very long time. Some you love loses themselves to Alzheimer’s, you spend your time in this weird, angry twilight of mourning that goes on for years. So I’m glad her suffering is over. But I am not glad she is gone. And I’m not glad she and all the rest of us got so profoundly cheated.

It’s just been kind of a rough year and I’m rambling. I guess I was not as ready for all this as I thought I was.

My Nanna was creative and fun, and she was an amazing cook. She loved us children, and she helped raise my sister and I. I would not be the same person had she not been in my life. And I thank her for the gift of herself, not just to me but for the entire family.

She was the last survivor of an enormous Italian family, and she was never quite the same after her beloved husband passed away. How happy she must have been to see them all again, and I have no doubt that she is with them all now. My cousin had a dream Friday night, before he knew anything was up, that all her family was sitting together, waiting for something. Sometimes the veil is thin and you can see through it a little.

My six year old said she knew Nanna was nearby. She said she could smell her. I believe her. That sweet essence will always be part of our lives.

Nanna, I love you. I won’t forget. And I know you won’t, either.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Kendall's Fight

Hi, all

A friend of ours has been diagnosed with cervical cancer. She has also found out the hard way that her insurance does not cover her treatment, which is insane. This is a young woman with children. My husband and hers built a website to chronicle her recovery and raise funds. Please consider visiting her site and keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks,
gina

Monday, April 23, 2012

Ask Wash Updated Today

I have to tinker with this to see if I can get the pages to refresh in a reader. Anyways, if you're following this in a reader, there is a new Ask Wash today.

Have a good one. See you Friday!

-Gina

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Ask Wash On Irregular Schedule For Now

But the regular posts will continue as scheduled on Fridays.

Right now, I have a lot going on doing re-writes and edits as I prep this thing for print and for Kindle. I'm writing some extra stuff, wrangling new exclusive artwork, and editing what's already written.

I'm having a hard time spinning all those plates. Plus, I don't have a question for this week. Please feel free to send questions in. I'm not halting the column. I'm just not going to sweat it if it misses a week or two for a while.

See you on Friday. :-)

-gina

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Gift Art from Eve

Here is a wonderful sketch of Fiona by Eve. She sent this to me for Christmas, with a note that said "May Storm have a very merry Christmas?" and I just about snoogied my coffee. Awesome.

I love that come hither look.

I had intended to post this some time ago, and I apologize for the tardiness of it. We were having to replace some computer hardware and the scanner about then, and then all this other stuff hit the fan, so I'm just now catching up on all this scanning (for other things as well) I've got stacked up over here.

But here it is, and it's way cute. Thanks again, Eve, you know how much I love this.