Sunday, May 12, 2013

Remembering my mother on Mother's Day 2013




















Although I am not a mother and was never even pregnant, I am moved by Rachel Barenblat's essay on motherhood.  If I had read an essay like that when I was younger, I would not have been so afraid of being someone's mother.

These two photos of my mother and me were taken by my father, probably in 1950.




















My guess is that the photo below was taken in the early 1980s, if not late 1970s.  I remember first seeing that photo and thinking that my mother looked younger than I did.  My sisters and I all grew up to be taller than our mother. That is one of the few photos of just my mother and me as adults.  I can only think of one other.  The photo was taken by my father at Anchor Bay, California, a few miles up the coast from where my parents lived after my sisters and I had grown up, and my father had retired.




















Beginning in the late 1980s, my relationship with my mother underwent stresses that were not worked out before she died in 1994. Now I understand that she had a similar relationship with her mother.

As I was watching "Hugo" a few days ago on DVD, I thought it was something that my mother would have enjoyed seeing:

3 comments:

Taradharma said...

Oh, the relationship between mother and daughter. My mother lost her mother without resolving their differences. Such a heartache.

Thanks for the recommendation on the film Hugo. I have added to my Netflix and will watch soon.

jarvenpa said...

My mom would probably have liked Hugo as well.
The dance between mothers and daughters is an interesting one indeed. I was lucky in my mother (and in my daughter also), but the echoes from the past are sometimes haunting.

am said...

Hello Taradharma and Jarvenpa. Thank you for being here today.