Isn't it rich...?: I love you Mumbo

So ...hi.

Hope and re-invention lives. I wake with courage and fear.

My last writing here was Mothers Day 2008.

I loved my mom very much. We did not have a simple relationship. She passed over to the other side a year ago last August. I'm still not over her absence. I know I never will be.

I wrote a piece for her Memorial Service (with perfect help from my brother) and spoke it to all of her many friends who loved her.

Here is what I said after taking a huge breath from the bottom of my soul... . . . . .

Hi Everyone

Hi Mumbo

Hi Dinny

...Dins

...Dinsmore

...Dinny Mouse

...Mouse

...Din

...DD

Mom

My Mom was born in 1934, around the same time Minny Mouse was born. Her dad, Lxxxx Lxxxxxx, made her his Dinny Mouse. Dinny. The Dinny moniker stuck for a lifetime. She was “Dinny” when she met my Dad on the slopes of Mt. Mansfield in Vermont. “The Nosedive” to be exact, when it still had 7 turns. 1962. Dad noticed her fantastic skiing from afar but when he got close she had her ski hat down over her eyebrows and her parka up over her nose. All he saw was her bright eyes.

Dinny taught me and my brother to ski before we could walk. A former ski instructor, she had gobs of skiing to do and a lifetime of instructions for all of us. Here’s a great one....

Mid Seventies - Same mountain in Vermont. February... Mom - her beautiful face tan from skiing in the sun and a big, warm wonderful grin. My brother is in front of her. She is frozen and thrilled, and so is he. She is instructing him how to warm up ones fingertips when they are so cold they hurt... “like this” **I demonstrate** It works! She instructed us well.

Dinny Mouse radiated a cheery demeanor that made her a light in our lives. I have a distinct memory of her skiing by me in the early 1980’s in the middle of a mean and cold blizzard and she literally shouted to me “jolly, jolly, jolly!”

For the last 20 years, some of my favorite times with her were here in Sakonnet. It’s November and we’re walking. There is a dog with us - Cooper or Zachariah or Jack... This is where we have our best conversations. Walking among the stone walls of Sakonnet. I see her wearing a hat, maybe sunglasses, maybe not- but what is clear is her voice. She is concerned, earnest and she has questions, (lots of questions) and also ideas (perhaps a specific instruction), she wants to listen, she wants to learn. Above all, she cares. She really does. At least once when the sun breaks though to light the fragmity or the ocean glows in an exceptional way, she will stop, take notice and say “now how good is that!”

Today I see her clear as a bell swimming in her church - the ocean. I see her everywhere. I see her as Philipies Beach, her Tappens swimming spot, Warrens. I see her as the full moon, the adirandic chairs overlooking ocean and the 2 frogs I met in our driveway two weeks ago.

Dinsmore had style. Great at dinner parties, small talk and big talk. Easy to talk to, funny and extremely loyal; she was best friend to at least 6 woman.

Dinny herself was everywhere... full of Zipity Doo Da zest, specific instructions and a laugh.

Dinny Mouse

Dinny

Dins

Dinsmore

Mouse

Din

Mom

Mumbo!

I love you Mumbo.

Here's how she looked through my lens the summer of '08...