When We Had Hair

Thinking of my late sister on her birthday and the days when a photo taken at Sears was considered a legitimate idea for a Christmas present. Also thinking of when Sears was still a thing.

Sis

Since her passing, I keep forgetting to mark my sister's birthday in January. To this day, I keep thinking her birthday falls on the nineteenth, not the sixteenth. Here's a photo of me helping lead Kristen down the aisle with Dad giving her away. 

Kristen Would be Fifty-Three Today

Now that Kristen is gone, I have no one to make You're Old jokes to anymore. 

Autumn Love

Ten years ago, I  went with my Mom and sister to the autumn fair in Franklin, Massachusetts. No one was paying attention to my sister in her wheelchair until we put the bee costume on Smokey. Then she finally got to meet the people of the town she lived in.

Remembering Kristen

Five years ago, shortly after her death, I put up a website for my sister. for her with some eulogies from Kristen's friends. People who knew her are welcome to send me stories if you like. I can add them later today. 

Today

This morning, on the anniversary of my sister's death, I posted the following on Facebook:

Only through the relationship I had with my sister could I end up with a Facebook holding morbid reminders of my family’s mortality in December spliced with funny videos of Kristen’s pug.

Expect a lot of melancholy and irreverence in today's posting. Case in point: Another video that came up on my Facebook memories today.

TBT

Today is the day my sister, had she lived, would have beaten me to fifty. This is the last picture I ever took of her on my phone. It must have been in the hospital after I did my trademark joke of handing her something large like a bed remote and telling her it was her suppository. Always made her smile. Thought I lost this photo when things went pear-shaped with my iPhone last year. Wanted to put it here for safekeeping.

Happy Birthday Kristen

A Ghost of Christmas Past

This is the last Christmas card my sister ever sent out.

I always tried to take pictures of Smokey in a Santa hat, but for some reason, they were never used and instead a hat was put in with Photoshop.

Smokey Knows My Name

An old video salvaged from my Mom's cell phone. One of the last she took of Smokey when my sister was still alive.

My Sister

Today marks what would have been the forty-seventh birthday of my sister Kristen, who passed away over a year ago.I set up a website in tribute to her and invited her friends to contribute their thoughts. 

Nearly a month after the one year anniversary of her death, I finally updated her website with various photos both both found from her old photo albums and donated from various friends. I will update the site later with a photo gallery, but you can can look at the site now for the added tributes. If you feel like adding words now, let me know.
 

It's Monday, and I'll Throwback if I Want to

I've been gathering photos of my late sister to update the memorial page I did for her. This one was part of an article published in the Woonsocket Call when my sister was a recipient of My One Wish. I'm in the picture, and the haircut I'm sporting proves that I'm losing my hair because I never really deserved it.

Memories

I think this is my first conscious foray into Throwback Thursday with two sets of photos that had to have been taken around the early eighties, first of my Mom and Dad, then me and my sister and cousin Jason. I imagine these were taken at some holiday or wedding celebration, but I can't remember.

Happy Birthday

My sister Kristen would have been forty-six today.

I'm hoping to add more to my sister's web site. Please let me know if you want to send me tributes or give me permission to use what you wrote on her obituary page.

The Last Picture of My Sister I'll Ever Take

My Sister's Obituary

Kristen Montalvo Parenteau, 1970-2015.

For My Sister, Kristen Montalvo Parenteau

All are welcome to share memories and pictures for this site or her FB page.

My Sister

What I'm about to post seems completely absurd, given that I just announced the death of my grandmother less than a week ago. My sister Kristen, who was hospitalized and couldn't attend our Meme's funeral, passed away this morning. I received the news hours before I was going to post this old photo of the two of us as children.

RIP, Meme

Yesterday, I drove my grandmother's giant Lincoln and led the way (behind the hearse) to the same cemetery where my father and grandfather are buried. It was my Aunt Deb's idea at the last minute, and it made quite the impact on the event to see Meme's car in the lead. I took photos with my sister in mind. She was admitted to the hospital on Sunday morning. Though she was moved out of ICU on Monday, she couldn't make the funeral.