Mother's Day

We are wishing all mothers a Happy Mother's Day and especially mothers of children with special needs, mothers of children who are very sick,  mothers who are away from their kids for whatever reason, and mothers who are mourning the loss of their children.

This Mother's Day, I remember my Mom.

My mother and I were not very close. It had always been more because of geography than anything else. I spent the first twelve years of my life at home with her. From 13 and on, I had been away: first for high school, then college, then work, and then off to the US to work. In the twenty years that I had been in the US, my mother was able to come just three times. And I am very thankful that all three visits were meaningful and happy times. The first time, she stayed five months with me. We went places and we talked like friends. I felt closer to her than at any other time since I was born. The second time, she came to my wedding. She approved of Brady and appreciated how good he was to me. And the third time, she met Joseph for the first time. Joseph, unfortunately, was not very friendly to his Lola (grandmother) and the pictures I took even showed it. I was just so happy that they got to see each other in person and not just in photographs.

 

It has been five years since I last saw my Mom; three years that she's been gone.  I wasn't with her when she died and I didn't go to her funeral.  It was something that we discussed about a month or so before she died, when her sister's husband just passed away.  I told her that if anything should happen to her, I would not be able to come because I couldn't leave Joseph.  She responded that she probably would not know any better by then.  That talk comforted me when I really did not make it to her funeral. 

What do I miss most about my mother?  Her Faith.  I just knew that she was always praying for us.  When Joseph was in and out of the hospital on the second year of his life, I often called my Mom and cried to her.  And she would tell me that she lit a candle for Joseph, prayed a Novena or had a Mass said for him.  I also miss her stories/gossip about our family and the people in our town.  I miss her reminding me whose birthday was coming up.  She always said that she was forgetful, but she remembered the birthdays of all her family members, friends and people she worked with. 

What did my mother use to tell me? Three things that I remember distinctly: Smile, Save Money, Always Pray the Rosary.  My Mom did all these things when she was alive.  I try my best to do one of these things everyday, and I have not been very good at all with the other two.  I need to do better.

This Mother's Day, it will just be Joseph and me for the most part of the day.  Brady lucked out from pampering me today.  Maybe next year.