This Mother’s Day weekend was different for many of us. Loss makes it so.
I was speaking with a friend of mine and we were talking about our image of “woman”. As I spoke I realized I was describing the image of my mother from the eyes of a child. All powerful, knowing, loving, beautiful… It was an image from a memory in Vermont… one that based the idea of what I wanted to be as a woman and influenced the direction of my life.
It was early morning, dew over the field, yet you could still see over the rolling hills. There was a chill in the air, but not so cold that you needed to wrap up. She sat on the back porch, or was it the front porch, since nobody seemed to agree which was the front of the house. Regardless, this was the porch that viewed my childhood world. The porch where I would conjure storms as they came over the mountainside and I would pretend to save the village… So there she sat, barefoot on the bricks, legs slightly spread, working on her latest artistic creation. It was always different. It could be sewn, croqueted, glued, decoupage, mortared, cooked or pasted. Whatever it was, it would set the tone of the day. I think for this memory it was something glued with many pieces that needed to be constructed.
The other thing that stood out most… was her look. My mother was such a combination of elegance and earthiness. At the time she had short hair with the latest – which was a light frosted look laced through her dark hair. She was also wearing one of her many nightgowns. I loved her nightgown drawer. They were all silky and long, with tasteful lace at the varying degrees of plunging necklines. The one she wore that morning was light sky blue. As she turned to give me a “Good morning Doodlebug”, I could see how it matched her eyes.
So there she sat, creating, so intent, so content… she reminds me of a jewish Sophia Lauren, all curves and down to earth.
So that’s it to me… WOMAN… solid, grounded, loving, elegant, down to earth, intent, content… WOMAN.
This day will never be the same. I love you. I miss you.~ your Doodle Bug
(Mom, my brother Dave, and me snug in her belly 🙂
