After many months of illness, on April 3, 2009 our mother, Patricia Steenson, passed away. She had terminal cancer that spread through out her body, though that didn’t stop her from smoking a pack a day till the very end!
Mom was born in Canada, where as a young lady she was a member of the Minto Skating club, skating arm and arm with future Olympic figure skaters and judges, including Dick Buttons of ABC Wide World of Sports fame. She married young and moved to Long Island with our father and raised 5 children. Summers were spent in Canada at the cottage on the Rideau Lake. Those were the best days of all.
In the years following her divorce from our father, mother truly felt she had only us kids (and grandkids) left. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons she had (and Lord knows, after a ton of therapy I doubt any of us will ever be able to figure out why) she spread lies and manipulated her children and grandchildren until the family was ripped apart. For years we were divided until near the end of her life the web she wove started to unravel.
Whether it was what she wanted or not, when the end came, we were all there. All of us rather dazed and amazed at how much time we had let pass. How many things, previously taken as fact, turned out to be the fiction of a lonely woman with nothing better to do but push peoples buttons.
With her passing, old lines of communication are being re-opened. Family ties renewed. Tentatively, but with the real desire to make the family whole again. We five children (and many of the grandchildren) bear the scars of her tender loving care which we will hopefully help each other heal with a dose of laughter, a tablespoon of understanding, a box of tissues and a shoulder to cry on.
Please enjoy the family pictures taken at the first of (hopefully!) many family gatherings.
I love you all!
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