35 Comments
User's avatar
Julie Lopez's avatar

Gail, you and your mom- such a resemblance- and both so beautiful ❤️

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

I wish I could meet her... Isn't that fascinating to think about? I wonder if we'd be friends. I just watched a sci-fi film on Netflix called The Adam Project. It is about time travel and a child at two different ages meeting his deceased father. I guess that's where the idea is coming from.🤷🏻‍♀️

Thank you for your kind words. 💜

Expand full comment
Monty's avatar

I love your art and those pictures. My gosh you are so beautiful just like your Mother!

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

Thank you Monty. 💜

Expand full comment
Karen DeBonis's avatar

The resemblance is uncanny. And you just keep on finding gifts in this life experience, Gail. It's so uplifting!

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

My mom was the eldest of 7… she helped raise children before she had her own.

For so long now I’ve said the past is the past… there were gifts of independence and maturity I might have missed had my mom lived. And yet the common C experience is telling me I want to know more about her… to see her through the eyes of those who loved her.

Expand full comment
Karen DeBonis's avatar

You'll have many insights, I'm sure, and hopefully, you'll share them with us!

Expand full comment
Bobby Kountz's avatar

Karen-

I was scrolling the comments looking for your word… “Uncanny” is an absolutely perfect word for what my eyes revealed to my image processor.

Today I heard the brain described as a processor of electrical and chemical signals.

Do we have the ability to alter what we let in and how the impulses are received?

I believe we are witnessing in real time the truth of perception…

Grateful to all and to see this community rally behind and for our Typist and The Girls!

Oh, and Paintist too! 😊

Expand full comment
Karen DeBonis's avatar

Well said!

Expand full comment
Kathy Karn's avatar

Unexpected gifts are part of the unexpected blessing of this part of the journey. Thank you for your message Gail. You look so much like your mom!

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

♥️ Collateral beauty. I’ll keep looking for it. Thanks Kathy.

Expand full comment
Julie Lopez's avatar

I wish you could meet her! I believe you would be friends and that you would have a strong bond. You are an awesome mom, so she must have been an awesome mom, too!

Expand full comment
Marijke van Veldhoven's avatar

The gifts you keep finding are precious to witness. I love the drawing.

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

I recently read a short story about Anne Frank. How did that young girl continue to see so much light in perpetual darkness?

Expand full comment
Billie Short's avatar

This is a delightful sketch! The tree appears strong and has a personality.

Grit is a beautiful attribute. I think grit is one of the most powerful tools we can carry (and use) in our toolbox.

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

There is just something about trees! And little girls. And dogs. 😊

I asked my dad to call me today. I want to hear more.

Expand full comment
Gary Spangler's avatar

I so enjoy your compositions, words, paintings, pictures. The painting of the tree seems alive!

I think you noticed that in both pictures of your mom (The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree) that she has her right index finger on her right cheek and her eyes looking up and to the left. Do you ever plant a finger in that way?

Leonard Cohen wrote a lyric in “Sisters of Mercy”

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

In the picture above I’m on the left, my mom on the right! 😉

Expand full comment
Gary Spangler's avatar

Fascinating!

Expand full comment
Gary Spangler's avatar

“Oh you who must leave everything that you cannot control

It begins with your family and soon it comes ‘round to your soul

Well I’ve been where you’re hanging, I think I can see how you’re pinned

If you’re not feeling holy your loneliness says that you’ve sinned.”

So the “leave” in Leonard’s song came to mind as you spoke of distancing yourself from parts of the experience of losing your mom. I speak from experience, as that is what I did with most of my younger years. Today, like you, I am thrilled when I happen upon an old photo of an elementary school classmate. Or a picture of my mom’s parents. Or even think of a classmate whose name had eluded me for so long.

To me such things are about becoming whole, more solid, entwined with people and experiences that made us who we are today. Courage is sometimes involved. I know you have an abundance.

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

My Godfather passed this week. The services are on Friday. I called and spoke with my Godmother today. Shirley is my mom’s cousin. The couple have a daughter my age and used to welcome me for long summer visits after my mom died. I had an opportunity to thank her for their gentle and generous aid to my dad and care for me during our call… beaming more whole, more solid.

Expand full comment
Gary Spangler's avatar

I'm sorry to hear of this loss. Heartened by your call to your Godmother. A pebble into the pond?

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

Yes! A pebble... encouraged to toss it by my father. It is quite a drive to the service on Friday should I choose to go... not sure how I will be feeling. Greg has offered to drive if I am up to the trip.

Expand full comment
Gary Spangler's avatar

Chauffuering is not without its upsides. Do you have an infusion session tomorrow?

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

Yes! Tomorrow is a trifecta day.. carboplatin, taxol, and immunotherapy. :)

Expand full comment
Karen DeBonis's avatar

So sorry, Gail. I'm sure your words were the sweetest your Godmother could have heard.

Expand full comment
Pennie R. S. Nelson's avatar

That's great! You look just like your mom. I have doodled in many mediums of art since I was a kid, and it's so great to watch you explore your artistic abilities. Keep going, I love it!

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

Thanks Pennie. Right now I'm energized by copying art that I like. Today I stole like an artist from an Instagram sketch. 😊

Expand full comment
Bobby Kountz's avatar

Keep Stealing! Keep Going! ✍🏼🎨✍🏼

Expand full comment
Jack Herlocker's avatar

T-shirt: “I am forever disappointed that a group of squids is not called a squad.” 😁

(Sometimes I post one that is unrelated to your latest post. And sometimes one that can’t even relate to anything in the history of any of your blogs...)

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

For some reason I am thinking of the Navy Seals... Is it a military t-shirt?

I love when the synchronicity happens, but why I love even more is your generosity in being here! ❤️

Expand full comment
Jack Herlocker's avatar

🤔 Just a shirt from a catalog, but… US Navy sailors are referred to as “squids” by our US Army colleagues, and a small group of military personnel of any branch is actually a squad, so… Dang, Gail, you connected the dots! 😳

Expand full comment
3musesmerge's avatar

I remember Greg (last name unfortunately unretrievable at the moment) teased me about writing a story inspired by Jocko Willink. He said, “Really Gail, a squid?” Still makes me laugh.

I think Greg was former army. 😊

Expand full comment