Mothers Day 2020

Happy Mother's Day (or is it Mothers' Day?) to you!  We have all had mothers, and mine was one of the best.  She has always been a role model - strong, resourceful, optimistic, funny.  At almost 98, she has tremendous recall of events in the past.  I wish I had written down all the stories she told me of her youth and the war years in Indonesia.  But of course her stories were often told spontaneously, especially when I was small.  I cherish the stories she did write down, and just recently she has begun writing more down, including a piece on "Why I Don't Like Monkeys."  I'm a character in it, but of course I don't remember because I was just a newborn, riding along with her in a jeep through the jungle.

We moved around a lot when I was a kid because we outgrew houses or Dad changed jobs.  Whenever we moved, Mom would explore our new surroundings, often with us four kids in the car.  We'd get lost, but she would say it was a good way to learn about where we were.  We always made it home eventually.  

In my career as a library consultant, I drove all over the state and also got lost finding local libraries.  I didn't panic because Vermont towns are pretty small (I did cross over into Canada a few times by mistake), and I had grown up learning my way around. 

Here we are in 2006 at Dad's 80th birthday party.  I surprised him by flying in for the weekend.  He's been gone six years now, but Mom still lives in their house, plays cards and Mahjong, and keeps incredibly busy.  I've talked to her quite a bit in recent weeks because she's actually home.  With the two hour time difference between us, it's usually hard to connect.   I will give her a call again today, and I suspect my son Chris will stop by, too.  Paul gave me the bouquet of tulips yesterday and said that folks were flocking to our local florist who had a curb-side stand set up outside under a tent while it was snowing.  Yes, snow on May 9!