Memories live on in the minds of those Allison has touched. In children especially, memories of loved ones live on forever – events to be remembered, recalled and replayed over and over again. Memories help children try to make sense of the past, make sense of life and ultimately prepare for their future. Memories help keep love close as children remain wrapped in its blanket, a blanket of love that they can pull close and hug tight. These memories of Allison Vienna and Carlina will have forever..
A Special Moment
One special memory of Allison involves a family-friends gathering and feast with food tables inside and outside on one sunny summer afternoon. I was visiting with other guests in my friends’ sunporch, and Allison came in from the yard with her two little girls. I can still see her in my mind; a very slim and beautiful young woman, with her left arm firmly holding and balancing her baby on her hip and her right hand holding the hand of her other little girl. As Allison negotiated the steps and went into the house with them in this way, I remember thinking that she looked both like a teenager who didn’t know how beautiful she was and who could be out running like the breeze, and also like a wise, strong, confident, careful and experienced mother who was obviously protecting and nurturing her precious children. Inside the house, she continued to be attentive to her kids, who obviously meant the world to her and she to them. They were like an artistic pyramid composition of a mother and child scene with the mother centred on a firm base, tenderly holding her children close. I’m not sure why I had these thoughts, but they are still striking and clear. I can now only express them to her memory, but sadly not to Allison herself as she devoted herself to forming a place of bonding, love and caring for her daughters.