squirrel-holding-flowerWhat do you get mom on such an important day? A card? Flowers? Candy?  How about a book written by you, illustrated with love and given with the smile only pride could bring out.  That is exactly what I did to honor my mother, even though my mom is no longer with me…amarra-flower

Thinking back to my youth, I remember many times I hand-drew a card, wrote a rhyming poem or created a crayon masterpiece on computer paper that my mother promptly framed and hung on the wall.  Always allowing my creativity to guide me, and my mother always there to cheer me along, I sat back in recent years on Mother’s Day filled with an emptiness I would never be able to fill again.

mother-assuringHaving lost the joy for the day after my mom died, it became increasingly difficult to celebrate. Sure I would do my part for the card companies and purchase a nice frilly keepsake for step-mom, mother-in-law and even grandmother, but the creativity was gone. Without my mom, Mother’s Day just felt dark.

Lost in a day-dream, I recalled quite the unique story my mom once told, about a troll and a sprite with a fear that they built a friendship upon.  Feeling the creativity bubbling up, I decided to take that story and run with it. I created more characters, more stories, and came up with more ideas that this adorable young troll could experience.  I teamed up with two very talented illustrators, and put together four books so far; with a dozen more in wait – the first dedicated to my mother.

hamilton-looking-uppls-then-finallyI wish my mom could have seen the finished product. I know she would have been proud. But I know my mom is looking down from heaven smiling at me and wishing me all the best in this venture to share these stories. There is even a little piece of heaven trickling out from the rhythmic words of the sprite that I’ll admit feels like mom talking to me.

Pink Light Sprite is there for Hamilton Troll when he is afraid, she guides him into solving his problem and then before she leaves she even admits to him that, “I’ll be around but I will be out of sight…” I know my mom is an angel watching over me.  I feel her presence everywhere, even though I can’t see her.

In Pink Light Sprite’s final words she comforts with the phrase, “I will be with you in dreamland my tot, I never shall leave you when you’re caught up in thought, and when you are frightened think of me in the dew, and remember my friend that I do love you.”

I know my mother loved me.

Honoring my mom’s creativity with my own, I am now able to smile on Mother’s Day feeling within my soul that what I am doing to share these stories with others is like the ultimate Mother’s Day gift.

What better way is there to say Happy Mother’s Day?