For My Mother

My dear friends,

As many of you know, today is the 10th anniversary of this blog and the Riversiders started to prepare for the greatest party of their lives in anticipation, last month.

It is with a very heavy heart that I have to tell you the saddest news of our lives. The Riversiders and I will not be celebrating today, because last Sunday, on April 18, my mother passed away after a long and courageous struggle with cancer.

The photo above features Matilda Mandrake, because she was one of my mother's favourite Riversiders. Today, I took Matilda, Jemima and Quackie to the cemetery for a visit to my mother's grave. I would like to share these photographs with you in addition to a few thoughts.

My mother Felicitas was a very happy, funny and bold person and a role model to me in the way that she dealt with illness, blows of fate and changes in general.

She is now buried next to the beech tree you can see in the pictures further below. 

In the first three photos, Matilda is sitting amid a wreath of Ranunculus - one of my mother's favourite flowers - and on top of the beautiful pink urn which contains her ashes and was sunk into the earth this Monday.

My mother was my favourite person in the whole world. I felt there was a special bond connecting me to my mother and even during adulthood I could always count on her for her love and support. She was my very best friend since my mid-twenties. 

I don't think this means that I love the rest of my family any less. I have a wonderful father, an amazing sister and a lovely brother-in-law. I believe it rather means that I felt "especially" close to her. When we were together I felt accepted with all my strengths and weaknesses and I felt at home. 

Although I am a grown woman, and even knowing my mother's death would some day be inevitable, I always felt her loss would mean that my own life would end too. It might sound silly to many of you, but I just could not help it. I am not sure what I thought would happen. Probably that I would become ill due to the grief and wither away. 

 

I will never be able to look into my mother's eyes and talk to her face to face again. Never again will I be able to kiss her warm cheek or hold her hand and share any type of news with her. But, strangely, although my mother died on the 18th, I have already survived a week and three days without her. Right now, I am alive and I am not ill.

I am certain that in a way my life really has ended. A chapter of my life, I mean. It will never be the same and I will always feel the difference between my life now and the way that it felt when my mother was still here. 

I'm not sure why, but some people (even those that have lost a person most dear to them) tell me, "Rejoice, your mother is no longer suffering!", as if this were the only issue that gave us any sorrow. 

I am very, very grateful that my mother is now free from the frailty and pain that the illness inflicted upon her. Because the suffering was intense and there was no other way out and she deserves to be well. 

But although death came as a merciful release for her, for my father and I the long work of mourning has only just begun, and we will always miss her and feel the piercing stab of her absence. 

Rest in peace Mama, or maybe you prefer to party? 

Whatever the case, I wish you the best of times wherever you are now. 

This blog entry is for you. 

I love you. But you already know that.

A Personal Update

 

Dear friends,

As some of you know, I had been planning to publish a new post once a week. 

I have so many ideas, as well as many old and new photos and even a special project that I have not yet told you about. 

However, my mother's health has seriously deteriorated over the past weeks. She has a cancer tumor that cannot be removed and it is taking over her body. 

My mother is my favourite person in the whole world and my best friend. She has been in palliative care at our home now for some weeks and is being cared for by my family and I, nurses and doctors. 

Right now, each day is different but there is always so much work to do. Unfortunately, my mother is getting weaker day by day. I don't know how much time we have left with her and how my life will go on after her loss. It is all very frightening at the moment.

I do not know yet how often I will be posting any new content during the next weeks as I want to spend a lot of time with my mother and family right now, but I also need time for myself and my hobbies in order to stay well and Riverside is a good place to be.

I felt like sharing these thoughts with you, even it is is a sad issue and nothing to do with miniatures or Sylvanians. If you have been through something similar and would like to share, feel free to message me.

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The tiny kangaroo sitting on the flower is baby Valentina Zoraida. Jemima, Ralfie and their friends send you their hugs and kisses. 

Have a look at Riverside's babies and toddlers in the photo above. They were so well behaved on Easter (after I gave them each a creamy chocolate egg to eat), that they kept still for about three seconds - enough to take this photo.

Lots of love to everyone and take care.

10-Year Anniversary GIVEAWAY

 

Dear friends & dear readers old and new,

Today, Jemima would like to announce that our 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY is coming up on April 28! 😊💖

Apart from the Riversiders celebrating like crazy, (one of them has already started; I think you can imagine who it is and yes, he is cooking up a new batch of homemade toffee at this very moment) they have decided to do a GIVEAWAY of the HOPPIN' EASTER SET. 

Absolutely ANYONE can take part. Whether you are an old reader or a new one, whether you have recently received a parcel from Riverside or not. All you need to do is: 

1. leave a comment underneath this blogpost saying that you would like to enter our lottery; 

2. post a link to my giveaway (or a blogpost dedicated to it) on your blog or website.

The drawing will NOT take place on our anniversary (April 28), but rather on May 28, because we would like to give everyone enough time to enter.

Here is Jemima with some more pictures of the beautiful prize:

Thanks in advance for your entries 

and GOOD LUCK!!! 🍀