Mom's Birthday Today

Today would have been Mom's 86th birthday...(this is indeed a tough time of year. Patrick's birthday, Mom's birthday a few days after...and Valentine's Day will be the first anniversary of her death, then March brings Patrick's death day. Difficult, and filled with memories and love, too.)

Today, just a little bit ago, I was looking in a box of pictures I've looked at dozens of times, looking for a picture of Molly I wanted. And there tucked in the back, I found pictures of Mom in 1994 that I forgot I had.

Mom in 1994. I had moved up here 3 years before and she was living alone in Miami. In another post, I wrote a bit about the ageism Mom experienced sometimes and in 1994, alone, she was really coming up against what elder women often experience, especially women of her generation. Her experience was of being overlooked, ignored, or the object of impatience when she was noticed. Heavy sighs in lines as she fumbled with change or writing a check, even direct rudeness because she wasn't fast enough or young and pretty enough to have her foibles tolerated.

I told Mom she ought to look up some of my friends - women friends who met at the full moon every month and honored older women. Well, my mother was nothing if not adventurous and game for new experience. She did get in touch with them and wound up getting croned - a wonderful time of having her wisdom and age treated with respect and valued.

I love this picture: (Mom's in the red blouse...)


Bright blessings to your dear soul today, Momma.
Always your daughter, your Susie-Q.