This week I’ve had the opportunity to be with family who have lost loved ones…

 two of my cousins [sisters] passed away within two days of each other. 

Their deaths were not unexpected, and yet, 

who is ever really ready to say goodbye to someone you love so much?

These cousins are more my mom’s age than mine 
[in fact, one was six months older than my mama.]  
 [They have children more my age]

… and because their mother [my mama’s sister] lived just around the 
corner from us when we were growing up –

 they and their two younger sisters have always been a constant in my life. 

My heart aches for their children [and gr-children,] 

and two younger sisters who are left behind… 

So my mind went so Saudade

   

“Saudade was once described as "the love that remains" after someone is gone.  

Saudade is the recollection of feelings, experiences, places or events that once brought excitement, pleasure, well-being, which now triggers the senses and makes one live again. 

It can be described as an emptiness, like someone (e.g., one's children, parents, sibling, grandparents, friends, pets) or something (e.g., places, things one used to do in childhood, or other activities performed in the past) that should be there in a particular moment is missing, and the individual feels this absence. 

It brings sad and happy feelings all together, sadness for missing and happiness for having experienced the feeling.” 

 

It’s a word that I found [I can’t remember how -- ] after my mama passed on… and it’s a comfort as it explains my feelings so accurately… 
I wanted to give them a little something during this time 
and I created this mixed media piece ... 
The heart says 'saudade' because I know they will 
always have their sweet loved ones in their hearts....