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In thinking about this, Mother's Day signals the beginning of optimism,
of spring and all good things to come. Winter is in the past, summer just a whispered
promise. Put another way, if Mother's Day doesn’t bring a smile to your
face, frankly we’re out of ideas.
Everyone hopefully has fond memories of their mother or someone who's
played a significant motherly role in their upbringing. If for some odd reason you don’t have the
appropriate appreciation, consider this from Elizabeth Stone: “Making the
decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your
heart go walking around outside your body.” Wow, well said.
Dual Roles
For most of us reading this, as we are more likely than not, females,
we may both be a mom as well as have a mom. Hopefully our mother’s are still
with us. If we are both, we understand first-hand the full cycle of life. For
us, Mother’s Day comes at us from both directions.
If you’ve lost a mother, or God forbid a child as I have experienced,
sometimes Mother’s Day can come with a bit of a cloud on an otherwise sunny
day. Mixed emotions, confusion, and loss, coupled with joy, memories, hope and
family all tend to intermingle on defining days such as these. The good news
is, for me, family and hope always win out!
Memories (and
Creating New Ones)
One of the ways my mom showed her love and care was through cooking.
Just recently, as I was preparing our Passover feast with her recipes, I had
some flashbacks to our holiday celebrations, including Mother’s Day. My mom’s
been gone for 7 years now, but I still remember her food tasting better than
mine. I miss her a lot.
She used to say “cooking (food) has to just feel right”, meaning to me
that cooking is one part intuition and one part love. The recipes are just a
framework until love and personal feel are added by the cook. Somehow that
brings me comfort and peace.
Our Mother’s Days were, and continue to be centered around food and
family gathering to enjoy each other’s company, in essence, memory making. Sure
there are cards and gifts, and they are really nice and appreciated (especially
the home made gifts from the kids, and yes, now from the grandkids). But my
experience is that the core joy and satisfaction is derived from just simply ‘being’
with those you love.
Happy Mother’s Day to all and much joy and happiness to you as you
spend time together with your families. Be sure to appreciate your time
together, take mental snapshots that will be your cherished memories for
another day, and please, please, don’t let petty family grievances poison a
beautiful day. Life is too short...
We close with two quotes today, as Mother’s Day is definitely worthy of
multiple quotes!
“A mother's happiness is like a
beacon, lighting up the future, but reflected also on the past in the guise of
fond memories.”
“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my
angel mother.”
PS:
We’d be honored to hear your Mother’s Day memories and traditions if you’d care
to share...
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