Month Of Music: Inspired By Ayr's Momma
MOM Special Edition
‘MOM Special Edition’ in Spotify
In honor of Mother's Day, a playlist in tribute of Ayr's Mom.
My loved life.
She was Jacqueline Barnett, Jacq, Mama J, the J Bird, Mama Tizzle, Jax and most proudly, Momma.
On February 7th, 2023, our lives changed forever. With seemingly no forewarning, she had a seizure in her left hand that led to a diagnosis of a Glioblastoma (GBM) brain tumor. Together, with the help of close friends and family, we endured a harrowing six month and two day journey that included 2 brain surgeries, 8 MRI’s, intense research and impossible decisions. We danced, we laughed, we cried and we loved. She was intensely brave and charmingly vulnerable.
She gave me my dad, inspired me to love color, she modeled having empathy for the human condition and emphatically pushed me to follow my passions.
Her unwavering desire to keep learning and growing meant that I kept learning too. She earned her masters degree at 55. She explored women’s hardball, piano, script writing, costume design, creating canvas floor covers, riding motorcycles, garden design, speaking Spanish, flying small airplanes, rowing, tai chi, pilates, yoga, and tapping mediation. Nothing was off the table. If it sparked her interest, she jumped in with both feet.
Anything to do with animals was always a yes. Horses, dogs, pigs, goats - she loved them all. She was the favorite hand, and lap, for any animal that encountered her. She loved our fur babies, Bogart, Harlowe and Oxley, with her whole heart.
A humanist to her core, she dedicated her life to helping others. Her career in community health spanned from pioneering the street outreach program in the early days of HIV/AIDS, setting up community health clinics in Vietnam, working as the education coordinator for the BCCDC to her more recent commitment as a community based foot care nurse.
My entire life I have been respected, loved, encouraged and challenged. She often told me that I taught her how to love. Because of her, unconditional love is all that I know.
She was my momma, my best friend, my hero, my business partner, my inspiration and my muse. She was the best human being I have ever known.
With Love, her baby girl, Ayr
