Pueblo Reflections (Reposting)

I am reposting this picture today in honor of Mother's Day.  I originally posted this here back in 2005, and this is what I said, "This is one of my favorite images of my mother, walking by a department store window in Colorado.  I don't know who took the original photo, possibly my Uncle Ike, who was a great photographer.  Anyway, this old black and white photo has been on my wall for years. I decided to scan it, pull it into Painter IX and colorize it with digital watercolor. In the process, I became more aware of the reflections in the window, and used some color to bring out these additional images of Pueblo."  Well, in 2005 I can't imagine saying this,  but now I will add that my mother died too early, when I was in my mid-thirties. She was 69 (my age now), after a six-week stay in the ICU, apparently unaware, and when she died my mind's eye was filled with terrible images of how she looked then. It was hard to even think about, and those images came to me unbidden, so I couldn't think of my mom and be at peace at the same time. But looking though her things led me to look at old family photos. I found comfort in looking at photos of her in the 1940's. I began to use those photos to make art, images: colorized photos (creating collaborations with my amazing Uncle Ike who took a lot of the pictures). And then I began to make paintings based on the photos, as well as find ways to "unlock" photos of her that were too dark, double-exposed, too blurry.  So I slowly figured out this way to bring memories of her forward with me into my life ahead, and to share these memories with others. I still do this, for her (and for my dad, too). And in this and many other ways, I began to seek and find ways of making her memory be for a blessing: a blessing for me, a blessing for my family, a blessing for strangers as I try to pay it forward, passing along what she taught me, loving others as she loved me, laughing as she had laughed, and trying to do for others what she had done for me.