Happiest of Happy Birthdays Mom-Day 2
This is a belated Happy Birthday post to my beautiful mother, born on Halloween. I really wish I could have been with her to celebrate in person, and can’t wait to see her when they come out for Thanksgiving.
Here’s a photo of Mom when I was just a year old.
I love this picture, and am so sad that it’s starting to fade. Check the dress with the pleat in the front. And the groovy belt. Is that handmade Mom? I’m sure you’ve told me, but I’m terrible with the details lately. Aunt Ginny made a lot of their clothes, and I think later Mom learned how to do it too, so we girls had plenty of pinafores and eyelet bonnets, sundresses and nighties. Lila’s currently sporting a fantastic pair of soft, orange, flannel pajamas with bats flying all over them that Grandma made.
I love my mother’s posture in this photo. She’s a new mom, and so young—not even 20 yet. She’s stepping right into this role with everything she’s got. I’m one of those unfortunate people who remember very little of my childhood unless it’s associated with a photograph or a story that’s been told and retold. But I do remember a few things about my mother when I was very small that come to me with a bright intensity and all available senses. The feel of her hand when she held mine to help me walk, her fingers thin and strong, holding me tight, the way they enveloped my whole hand and kept me steady. Climbing into her bed in the morning, that sleepy fragrance over everything and how soft the skin on her cheeks felt when I hugged her. The sound of her breathing hard as she pushed the big stroller around town with me and my sister snuggled down in blankets inside, on our way to her parents’ house.
I wish I lived closer to my family. I’ve made choices my whole life to live in another place for a man, or to stay in that place for one. If the opportunity ever arises again for a new beginning, for any reason, I’m going home.
Happy Birthday Mom. Love you.
"In summer we live out of doors, and have only impulses and feelings, which are all for action, and must wait commonly for the stillness and longer nights of autumn and winter before any thought will subside; we are sensible that behind the rustling leaves, and the stacks of grain, and the bare clusters of the grape, there is the field of a wholly new life, which no man has lived; that even this earth was made for more mysterious and nobler inhabitants than men and women. In the hues of October sunsets, we see the portals to other mansions than those which we occupy."
~Henry David Thoreau
November 2nd, 2006 at 8:25 am
carol is so beautiful isn’t she??? and what really struck me looking at that pic was how that could be a pic of you with your wee one . . .
November 2nd, 2006 at 11:41 am
That’s a great picture! You might be able to get a negative made from the picture at a professional photography store and then you can print copies of it. The quality isn’t always as good as the original but it makes sure the photo can’t disappear completely.
It’s funny, I’ve always chosen to stay near my family (parents) even though we’re quite a volitile bunch. Moving away from them was actually pretty healthy for me. Yet, I do miss the casual frequent gatherings with my mom. Trips to the nursery, a cup of tea in the afternoon between errands, a spontaneous dinner gathering. I miss all that. But I also like being out of their reach. I never really have been.
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:16 pm
I love the picture of your mom. Reminds me of one of me with my mom in our front yard in 1978.
I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be reading and rooting for you during NaBloPoMo.
Good luck!
November 2nd, 2006 at 4:25 pm
lovely post. thanks for sharing.
November 2nd, 2006 at 8:12 pm
That’s such a gorgeous photo. Happy birthday, Kelly’s mom.
November 2nd, 2006 at 8:44 pm
that is a beautiful photo. glad you’re writing all month–I’m in also, but couldn’t be bothered to email fussy, so am super double secretly participating. Good luck!
November 2nd, 2006 at 9:00 pm
Your mom is the spitting image of you. Yay for coming home. We can’t wait till you do too!
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:17 am
This is such a beautiful picture and an even more beautiful post. What an amazing person your mom is to have started so young.
So happy birthday to her. And we’d love to see you all out this way…now that would be fun!
November 3rd, 2006 at 3:29 pm
Aw, thanks you guys!
November 5th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
That picture is so sweet. I bet you could fix some of the fading in photoshop. Do you use photoshop? If not, feel free to send it to me, and I’ll see if I can restore it a little.
November 5th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
beautiful mom and daughter. i wish we all could be together now with our babies. reading this post just reminds me more and more how much i miss you and how nice it could be to have our family, which is actually healthier than it’s ever been, together.
love you and lovely post.
jen