Hi Folks,
I do hope this note finds you happy, healthy and ahead of your own gameplan.
Paul, 15, Sidd, 14 and me with my eyebrows again
Abraham Pachikara, Copyright 2017 (Click for larger image)
As some of you know, my dad passed away this past January 1. Hence, my Mom has been on the millennia-old journey of a spouse surviving a vibrant marriage, and now traveling without her longtime partner. When Dad was in his last months, she was resilient, focused and tough as nails. I think she is tougher now, although her gently delivered words will never betray this fact. Certainly, on many moments she is deeply wistful. Yet I watch in awe. As always, I thoroughly enjoy my time with her (a constant since I was a toddler), and one of 2017's pinnacles was when she joined Paul, Sidd and myself for a week in Rome and Florence. For this deeply passionate art lover, visits to the Uffizi and Vatican Museums only energized her while we were left exhausted. Mom's spunky 78 year old persona shone like a 19 year old art history major for that week. More broadly, in 2017 she's embraced the online world: not just such aspects as banking and utilities, but also presenting her art work via Saatchi Art such as this collection of landscapes. Her nimbleness and tenacity are deeply noticed by the boys.
