May 10,Happy Mother’s Day, Covid 19, Lightening up

I was truly blessed to have the most incredible mother.  She was amazing.  She’d do so many special things for my brother and I.  We were always cared for, food, clothing, shelter. She was so loving to my father. The dog was another member of the family. She loved her boys, her man, her garden and the dog. She loved her mother and we cared for her in the last years of her life. She was a Christian woman, a Baptist and the church meant so much to her. She loved her sister, Sally and her other sister Hannah. She loved our cousin, Ruth Anne and the extended members of the family in Scotland  and the US. She loved my father’s northern relatives, especially, Annie. She made a point of keeping in touch and making sure we knew as children we were interconnected with a huge family and clan.

She fed the birds all winter at the feeder outside the kitchen.She knitted but loved to crochet. She played organ and sang hymns.  She loved to camp and helped butcher the game Dad brought home. I was tasked with plucking the ducks and cleaning the fish I caught but she cooked them all and accompanied my dad and us boys on all our fishing trips.  She spent hours untangling my fishing line when I was at a child. 

She cheered my brother and I at our games. She encouraged our school work and insisted we complete our homework. She was intimately aware of our lives and listened, taking a special interest in us whenever we were happy or sad. She laughed. She had the sweet laughter of an Irish schoolgirl and Dad and her kibbitzed all the time making the dog bark and us kids laugh.  When I came out of a trying adolescent I became close to my mom again admiring her love of God, her home and her garden and their motor home, the long trips they took to Good Sam RV sites and all the cruises they took in later years.  She and Dad were always busy, always working on some project, always there to help us kids.  She was amazing.  I love her.  I pray for her in heaven.

Now my sister in law Adell is the other greatest mother I know.My nephews are the most amazing men, so kind, intelligent and accomplished with great senses of humor. My brother was so loved by Adell and the two so loved their children. I’m so in awe of Adell’s love for her sons and now her grandson.  What an amazing woman. She is so thoughtful and caring, intelligent and talented.  Her voice is truly that of a nightingale and her mind is wonderful. She has the biggest heart and my brother loved her truly knowing the depth of her love and remarkable ness of her person. And now Tanya is the great mother of my great nephew who melts the heart of anyone who sees him. He is so special and so loved by his mother, grandmothers, and aunts and all of us.

My dearest friend and love Laura is a grand mother several times over and so cares for her children and their children.  She also loves her niece Robin.  She suffered through her husband ‘s terrible illness and continued to work and care for her children. Today they are still her true love.  My dog, Gilbert gets all the spoiling they would get if they were near. She works in the city and they all live in the country.  The families get together as often as permitted. I’ve seen her light up with good news of her son and daughters. She’s forever praying for them. Meanwhile Gilbert gets back massages and the best treats from her own plate of food. Gilbert, her fur baby, adores her. 

And thanks for Anna, the great mother of the god kids, she is so sweet and caring and with Kevin are another loving family.  I love that the mother and family are at the centre of the church. Creativity.  

Mother Mary.  In Christianity we celebrate the Mother of Jesus, lifting her up to the highest level of reverence.  The Church so admires women and motherhood. Even now I’m wearing a mother and child pendant from a St. Petersburg Orthodox Cathedral.  Hail Mary, Full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are Thou among all women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Lord Jesus.  

I have been blessed to work with the finest women in medicine, so many of them mothers as well as exceptional humans. I love my friends who care in all aspects of their lives. We grew up in the Game and Fish Clubs with wild game banquets and now I know mothers who shoot with their families and hunt with fathers and sons and daughters. I also know mother who sailed with their families and adventured across continents with their husband and children.  It’s a whole new era of accomplished women. 

When I was in Israel I was so impressed with all the Jewish mothers who’d served in defence of the country and were down to earth no nonsense women so atypical of New York stereotypes.  I loved all the European mothers I have known their pride in their family and heritage. The women so commonly kept the culture alive. The Filipino mothers and Thai mothers and Chamorro and Carolinian mothers I knew in the islands loved to cook and loved to dance. There love of their children was a wonder to behold.  In the north the aboriginal mothers all cared for and loved their children and grand children. The South American, African mothers, Asian mothers were all the same, immense love and pride in their children and great joy caring. 

Life was children to all the mothers I’ve known.  The world of creativity is definitely female.  Boys and girls destroy, men and women create.  I am so blessed to have known so many incredible mothers.  They are connected in a special way with the Creator God and all Creation. It shows in the sensuous confidence in the way they walk, life’s great dancers, hips swaying, 

Thank you God for mothers. Thank you God for my mother. Thank you Lord for all mothers. Hallelujah!