OK, bring your eyes back here.
I know it’s hard to stop staring at the amazing photo accompanying this piece.
From the sartorially resplendent young me (I try to highlight my fine choice in pants just so I can keep using ‘sartorially resplendent’ every year), to my elfin little sister and whatever those are on her feet, the obligatory standing ash tray, the couch itself and everything else.
But the focus for me is always in the middle.
That’s my Mum.
Every year around Mother’s Day, I like to reshare her story.
She died in 1987, which means we’re approaching four decades of Mother’s Days without her. She was just 44 years old. Cancer.
Resharing: Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her. Not a day will ever go by that I don’t think of her. She was the most incredible woman I have ever met and the single biggest influence on my life. Because I was still pretty much a kid when she fell ill and passed away, I still have trouble wrapping my head around the whole thing.
She lived for us, and clearly and unfairly, didn’t get enough time to do that. And if I didn’t necessarily appreciate it enough as a kid, that appreciation grows with every passing day.
Thankfully, I’ll always have the memories.
The lessons she taught us will stick with us forever and formed the basis of what has been passed along to the grandchildren she never met, but I believe she sees every day.
If I was granted one wish, it would be that Mum could come back to hug her grandchildren, just once.
Now comes the annual part where I ask for your own memories.
Sunday, May 12, is Mother’s Day, so I again want to hear about your favourite stories about your mom, grandmother or important role model.
Tell us why she’s special.
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Last time out, I asked my sister Penny to get things started, and she delivered, bigtime. Again:
“I remember as a little girl watching her get ready to go to the policeman’s ball and thinking how beautiful she looked and how I wanted a dress and shoes just like hers when I grew up.
All the driving she did to all of our activities never missing ANYTHING and never once complaining – I know now how much work that is. Realizing how much she taught me in the short time I had her – usually when I go to do something and I already know how to do it (such as cooking a turkey) it’s cause she showed me. Her love for making holidays special – reading The Night Before Christmas with my kids like she did with us. Subtly following a lady in the mall a few years after Mum died because she was wearing the same Tabu perfume Mum wore. That was rough. Her special name for me that no one else called me. The list goes on…”
I’ll never not tear up reading that.
Mum was so proud of her, and would be bursting now seeing how amazing she’s become.
So please, let’s celebrate together and let these amazing women know how much they are loved and admired.
Shoot me an email (can be as long or short as you want), sharing your memories and thoughts. It’s always a bittersweet time of year for me, but reading all of your memories never fails to make me smile.
PQB News/VI Free Daily editor Philip Wolf welcomes your questions, comments and local story ideas. He can be reached at 250-905-0019 or via email at philip.wolf@blackpress.ca.