What defines beautiful artwork? These painted aluminum cans. Kate Mulherin would never, in a million years, consider herself an artist or crafty in any way. A few of her children (nine total!) admitted that they never knew their mom to cook or bake. They would often find a butter and lettuce sandwich for lunch. One daughter remembered enjoying another classmates lunch while he was left wondering how he ended up with lettuce between two pieces of buttered bread.
Kate is my husband’s grandmother; we traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee to visit her this weekend. Dave’s mom and two of her sisters flew to Tennessee to see their mother for probably the last time. She is dying of cancer, all the while suffering from Alzheimer disease and dementia. But her illness does not shadow her spunky personality.
Dave’s dad Sam tells the story of one of the first times he met his future mother-in-law: Some kids were writing curse words with chalk on the sidewalk outside of her house. Sam witnessed Kate coming out of the house, shooing the kids away and sternly shouting, “That’s not very damn funny!”
Kate would probably consider these cans just pieces of aluminum with paint, but to her daughters and son they represent something they rarely saw in their mother. It is a gift that each one will cherish.
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Thanks Jess for doing this (the pictures and the story. It made me cry.
It was a pleasure… I loved the story behind it… your mom was beautiful!