It's Mum's birthday today. I think about her all the time but especially every September 3rd and every August 13th, the day she died. She would have been seventy-one today, she would have had twenty-eight years more living, she would be older than me. I wonder about how much more I would have gotten to know her, about confidences given with the passing of time when she decided that I was old enough to know more. I wonder about what other wisdom she could share that would have helped me on my path. Would I have listened? Would I have rebelled? What differences of opinion and reconciliations would we have had?
I imagine her at seventy-one, rounder and with wrinkles but beautiful still and sparkly, with her indomitable curiosity about life and her effervescent optimism. What other adventures would have filled her, rounded out her life to smooth the bumps and turbulence of youth? Lots of questions, but at the base of it all so much gratitude for the great privilege to be her daughter. Hers, no-one else's. That will remain so forever. Thank you Mum for all that you have given and Happy Birthday.
Hi M. What a lovely tribute. I can see you in her face and in her elegant hands.
ReplyDeleteThanks A. I wish you could have met her, I think you'd hit it off, especially with your wonderful cooking and love of all things culinary. She was an artist in the kitchen and loved to have dinner parties.
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