Bottles of Hope and some mourning

Hi Everyone,

Last Monday was a bit of a sad day for me as it was the first anniversary of the loss of a loved one. I took the day off work to be gentle with myself and to allow the emotions to go where they willed.

I was drawn to my clay room and spent a quiet few hours listening to Jim Croce, Don Williams, Gordon Lightfoot, (and even some Johnny Cash) and making Bottles of Hope. It's important to me that the life lost has meaning and if I can pour some of the love into acts of kindness for others in need, then I've achieved that goal.

I think all of us must go through trials at some points in our lives. I am blessed that I've got a soul-mate for a husband and through the drama of the loss I was able to reach out and find that I had good friends and family that were able to support me through it. They offered true moments of brightness in the days of darkness. There are so many people with so much less than I have and making the Bottles of Hope helps me keep it in perspective.

I took the greatest comfort from those that simply said "I'm sorry that you're going through this, it must be difficult and know that I'm here for you whenever you want to talk, cry, or otherwise be emotional". If you don't know what to say to someone, try those words first.

Anyhow, here are the photos of the creations. I basically just played around with odds and ends that I had laying around. I'm happy with them and I feel that the day was well-spent. Some of them will be suitable for men, who I think often get overlooked with the bottles.



By the way, I wasn't paying attention to what the cat was batting around and it appears that I've lost one of the lids to the Bottles of Hope. I keep forgetting that to a hungry cat everything becomes a toy and nothing is safe. Pester, pester, pester.

I know this entry is a bit personal, and apologies to anyone who is made uncomfortable by it. I've been wrestling for more than a week with whether to post it or not since I'm not looking for sympathy, but somehow it was important to mark the day in words.

Sandy