Too Many Good-byes

Farewell

This is an oil painting I did of my Mom saying goodbye to her dog, Casey. I titled it, “Farewell” because it was the last goodbye. She bent down to kiss his old dog face and told him a secret. I noticed how white Mom's hair had become and her once beautiful hands bore the price of sun and hard work. I painted her sadness and my own. The bright Florida colors under the harsh sun seemed to mock the grey we felt inside...

Back then, she was still living at her house in North Palm Beach and would insist on driving me to the train station. Even though she said train whistles made her 'sad”, she always waited there until my train was just a speck in the distance. Then eight years ago, she was faced with the difficult transition to “assisted living”. (This is a woman who once was the Director of Public Health Nurses and continued to work well into her 80's.)

When she could no longer drive, she sat downstairs with me to await the taxi. Last year, Mom no longer went downstairs, but I looked up to see her waving from her terrace. 

Then, this June, I looked up and her terrace was empty. 

So was my heart...