It Will Never Be Enough

When I was deciding what to write in this post for Mother's Day, I almost opted not to. Over the year's I've written a lot of posts that include and honor my mother. What more could there be to say - not to mention what does the subject really have to do with living and working in the digital age?

I've expressed my gratitude for her laughter, warmth, generosity, sense of style and  the way we can laugh and be silly together. 

I've told the story of how her arthritis now gets in the way of her baking and so I was forced  a few years ago to learn how to bake her special Greek sweet bread and discovered I actually like to bake! 

I've told the tale of my desire to dye the perfect red Easter eggs and her voice telling me, "Honey, don't worry. They'll come out perfect. Everything you do always does."

I wrote about how she was always receptive to trying something new and being trendy and so one year bought a silver aluminum Christmas tree, despite my begging her not to.

I've told the story of  how I grew up listening to her sing along with Doris Day, "Que sera sera, whatever will be will be, the future's not ours to see, que sera, sera." 

I've shared her obsession with worrying and belief she was born with two worry birds, one sitting on each shoulder and her wise advice that one should always think before you speak.

Most recently I celebrated her in honor of her 90th birthday in October.

That seems enough. But it's not.

There will always be something more for me to say about my mother, about her fierceness and strength, her humor -  when she remembers to laugh at herself - and the courage in which she faces the physical limitations of growing old. 

Now that she needs us to watch out for her, she is constantly telling my brother and I how lucky she is to have us. That she doesn't know what she did to deserve two children who are so there for her. 

But I know what she did. She gave us the gift of love. Unconditional love. If there was ever anything we doubted, it was never that we were loved.

And for that, there will never be enough words said. 

As for what this post has to do with living and working in the digital age - at the end of the day all the technology in the world will not connect us as much as holding the hand of someone we love and who loves us. Which is what I will be doing this Mother's Day.

Mom's newest adventure - learning how to use the go-kart
in the grocery store.

Celebrating My Mother At 90

My mother celebrates ninety years today. She’s asked me to keep it a secret. To tell people she is only eighty-nine. For some reason she seems to think this sounds better. I beg to differ. No surprise there. I am her daughter after all. We are supposed to have our share of disagreements. And on this one I stand firm. I think ninety sounds pretty fantastic.

My mother contests she never thought she would live this long. Neither did I. She had two near fatal illnesses under the age of twelve. And then there was the fear of cancer. Her mother had died when my mother was just seventeen, a tragic loss to breast cancer at a time when there was no such thing as Breast Cancer Awareness Month much less a breast cancer survivor.

When I was a young teenager I was convinced that my life would parallel hers, which meant that I too would lose my mother when I reached the age of seventeen. I never shared my fears, instead lying awake at night in my twin bed with the yellow and orange flowered bedspread she had made for me, counting how much time we had left together.

What I didn’t know until years later was that she had harbored the same fear. She told me, not that long ago, how she would write away for every piece of information she could find on how to prevent the dreaded disease.  Until my father made her stop. He told her she had to relax and stop worrying so much.  She was going to be okay.  He was right. She was going to be okay. And one October, many years into the future we would be celebrating her ninetieth birthday.

My mother is the reason I live the life I do. That alone is cause for celebration.  Her fierceness and independence was how I learned to walk the path I have chosen. She was always a forward thinker, reading up on what’s new and willing to try something different. She embraced the multitude of change that has spanned her lifetime. She taught me kindness and to look out for those less fortunate than us. She has never forgotten her roots, the second and middle daughter of seven children born to Greek immigrant parents, she lived through a real Depression, a World War and great personal tragedy. And yes, her family had at one time benefited from government help through food stamps.

She taught me to love the written word, reading to me every day from a giant book of stories and nursery rhymes until I could read myself, how accessorizing is the key to a good sense of fashion style and that cooking and baking were arts as well as demonstrations of love to those you prepared them for.

And when Dad died far too young, my mother was the one who sat me down the afternoon after the funeral and told me life would go on, that as hard as it was to imagine, I would be happy again. She helped me to understand that death was a part of life we could never escape and we must learn to be accepting of it. At the time I didn’t buy into it. But ultimately she proved what she still likes to remind me. A mother is always right.

Our roles have reversed in recent years. She looks to me for help now. She asks me what to do. She is the one to call me when she is worried or concerned or needs help with something. I am the one who takes her shopping instead of her taking me. I am the one baking her favorite Greek cookies instead of her surprising me. I remind her what she needs to do.

She tells me constantly how proud she is of me and how grateful she is for what I do for her. She doesn’t know where I get my calm from and how I do all I do. She says that now she learns from me.  And while I know that is all true, I am still learning from her.

This gift of her long life has been a gift to me as well. She’s lived long enough that we have gotten to work through our mother-daughter “stuff” and really like each other. I have had the rare opportunity to see the woman she didn’t share with me when I was growing up. The one who wasn’t always so brave and strong and knowing, in control and independent. The one who was also vulnerable and at times fragile.  The side she hid from her children so we could rely on her strength.

So once again she is teaching me. She is letting me see the woman she reserved for her closest friends. She is demonstrating for me the beauty in vulnerability. That it is not something to protect oneself from, but instead one of the greatest acts of courage and strength.

My mother is one of the strongest people I know. As she likes to remind me, she had no one to teach her.  It was just how she learned to survive. I am more fortunate. I have had her to lead the way. And I am so grateful.

So while my mother thinks we should keep this birthday quiet, I am not listening. I am celebrating her and the great fortune I have had to call her Mom.

Happy 90^th!

Kourambiathes are Greek cookies baked for celebration.
These are not in the traditional shape, nevertheless, they have been baked with love.