Thank You! for another very interesting challenge...Considering I almost never take photos of myself...This was outside my normal per view for creating pages...It has taken me quite a long time to create my page...& to be able to come here & post & talk about my experiences enclosed therein...
***MY VERY SENSITIVE & PERSONAL STORY ABOUT GRIEF & CANCER***
***STOP HERE IF YOU NEED TO DO SO***
*I haven't been around much this month for personal reasons...




...*
I have been grieving the sudden loss of my beloved husband Ray...of 26 years...
This has been the hardest time of my life...I thought I knew what pain was...Having gone through so much physical pain in my life...along with recovering from my near fatal accident back in November of last year...From which I am still struggling...My husband took ill & fell at our apartment & I had to call an ambulance for him...We had no idea he was so seriously ill...He was in the hospital for 9 days...& he passed away...I still can't believe how quickly things had progressed...Ray spent his last days in Palliative Care at the hospital...Knowing what I know now...I was lucky that I had as much time with him as I did...Watching him get sicker was a grueling experience for me...All I did was cry...I was his wife & I would always be there for him...Just like he was always there for me...Long days & nights at the hospital...Sitting in a wheel chair...Holding his hand...Talking to him...Singing to him...Praying with him...Cleaning his face & so on...He was in a lot of pain...It hurt me so much to see him like that...They kept him comfortable so he wasn't in pain anymore...His last days were excruciating for me,my Dad & the rest of his family & friends...Some couldn't come anymore because they couldn't bare to see him like that...he passed in his sleep...& the only peace & solace I got was knowing he wasn't gonna suffer anymore...I miss him so much it hurts...
...I am bawling as I write this here now...[ I will stop here... ] ...
***If you would like to read the rest of my story...You can click this link to the challenge thread :
https://the-lilypad.com/forum/threa...023-mixed-media-challenge.88679/#post-1537029
1. I took this picture at 6:00 P.M. On June 9th...The day my beloved Ray passed away...[as per the rules of this challenge] & Journaled about how I was feeling at that moment in time...[and still do] ...You can visibly see...how red & messed up...my face was from all the crying I did that day & many other days before...My hands literally shook as I took these pictures...
2. I used more than 5 Embellishments & I used 4 word art elements from several of Rachel's collections...that I hadn't used that much or some newly acquired ones that I hadn't used yet...
*I actually created 2 different layouts for this challenge...The other one goes into more details about my story...But because I added a lot of extra items...may not qualify for this challenge...I may post that one at a later date in my gallery...but for now...I'm going to post this layout for this challenge...
***Creating these kinds of pages is very difficult & hard to read...alone post...It has taken me this long to get the nerve or myself together enough to be able to just write this post & upload...***
Credits :
Be That Girl : The Complete Mixed Media Collection : Rachel Jefferies
The Mixed Media Signature Mini Mixes : Emerge : Rachel Jefferies
Hear My Voice 9 : Changing : Digital Scrapbooking Kit : Rachel Jefferies & Lynn Grieveson
Music Of The Earth : The Pace Of Nature : The Complete Mixed Media Collection : Rachel Jefferies
Messy Marks : Date Stamps 2023 PLUS BONUS : Rachel Jefferies
Eden : Contemporary Textile Collages : Rachel Jefferies
Additional Credits :
Photos : Me
Font : I Used for My Journaling : Stencil Std Bold
Blue Rain Overlay : Courtesy Of Susannp4 : Pixabay