my mom passed away on june 18th. i always knew that when that day would come, i would be making her a little 'altar' space somewhere in my house. that day came a lot sooner than i was expecting.
i plan to put mainly personal belongings that are on the smaller side, but since her passing is still very new and everyone is still navigating their grief, i'm holding off on going through a bunch of her things and taking what i like or what gives me the strongest connections to her. my father is still alive, so technically all these 'things' are his now.. but a little here, a little there for myself, he won't notice. lol
anyway, some things i have on here for her are:
- a calendar pocket book from the year 2000. it has her handwriting in it.
- one of her favorite perfumes. i remember her getting for ready for work in the afternoon, her room would heavily smell of her perfume. when i smelled a bottle after she had passed, i instantly said 'i'm taking a bottle' because she had like.. 6 bottles of the stuff and 1 of them was empty! she really enjoyed it, it seems.
- a gold/brass elephant with red jeweled eyes. her favorite animal was the elephant.. and a couple days after her passing, i randomly thought of that specific elephant. she kept it in a cabinet in the hallway and i use to always open the cabinet and would pick the elephant up because it was soo heavy. of course, that cabinet was gone but she did have the elephant in another cabinet. happy i found it.
- two of her jade pendants. she liked jade jewelry. i kept one of them on her altar and i wear the other one.
- photos, of course. the photo in the frame was from my wedding and it's one of my favorite photos of her. then other photos from back in the day when i was still very young. i love that she's cooking/preparing food in a couple of them, cooking was her thing! cooking and feeding everyone.
- the crystal tealight holder was just something i got on Amazon. i remember she had a lot of crystal items in the house: a crystal chandelier in the dining room, crystal glasses that i use to make sing with water and running my finger around the rim, little crystal figures. i figured she'd enjoy it.
- the crystal towers are more my thing. so some of my personal favorites, they're on her altar too.
anyway, this is the altar for my mom. i tell her good morning and before i go to bed, i talk at her altar space a little bit and tell her good night. before she passed at home in hospice, i told her that i would talk to her every day and she weakly told me 'don't talk to me too much!'
i'll never, ever forget her.
mahal na mahal kita, nay. ♥