Reflections in Glass

The most happiest of Mother's Day to all of you dear moms.....

The years have lessened the tears and soothed the hurt. But I'm not sure the 'missing her' will ever go away. I don't think it will. After my dad's recent passing, my brother and sisters gathered the things up in the home. I went over soon after to get a couple of things that had been my mom's which had no value whatsoever to anyone else but me; such as an ivory sand dollar encased in a glass paperweight. I had bought that for my mom from J.C. Penny's when I was about 19. She proudly kept it on her desk at work (she was an executive secretary to an associate superintendent with our school district) and I so distinctly remember seeing it on her desk everytime I visited her at work; which was often! So when the house was being dismantled, I wanted to gather that gift back - which mom had kept all these years....about 33 years!

As my brother handed me this little stack of items that they thought I would want, there was this picture of my mom.....and I gasped slightly and then the tears fell. This is my mom's high school senior picture. I remember it so well sitting on the music frame of my grandparent's piano up in their home in Iron Springs. As a rambucious toddler and child, I was all over the place, but I would take the time to climb up onto the piano bench and sit there - staring at a woman's face whom I didn't really recognize at first. (They had to tell me that that was my mom the first time I saw it!) I remember studying it - the smile, the nose, her hair style, the beautiful pearl necklace. This beautiful woman was someone I didn't know...a senior in high school working at a bank and aquiring top-notch skills to become one of the best secretaries around; something I tried to eummulate, but was never, ever quite as good at. Each time we came out from Ohio to visit my grandparents, I always was welcomed by my mom's beautiful smile from the piano.

This picture has been in my dad's 'office' room for the last upteen years. I had forgotten about it. So when my brother handed it to me, it caught me off-guard in several ways. I have it now in my home, by two other pictures of my mom. It is a family heirloom of which there is no other copy. It is unique and priceless.... just like my mom was.

As for the sand dollar...it now has a place of honor on my desk at school. I can sometimes be found picking it up...studying the amazing design of it...remembering the story behind it and the full circle of which it has traveled.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. A Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women that I know who give of themselves without end, who love their children despite their trials, who embrace their role of 'mother' and would give everything they have for their child. It is an honor, priviledge and a blessing to be able to watch and hear your stories of your children, no matter how old they may be. May God bless each one of you and your beautiful 'babies'.