Memory of My Mother

This is a photograph I had never seen until last Sunday when rummaging through old memorabilia at my Aunt Rosie's house. I'm guessing, because of the advertising on the car window, that this car was my father's car when he owned a coffee shop. I love this picture of my mother and on this Mother's Day, I have a few memories to share. My mother was a lover of language and taught me all I know about grammar and spelling. She insisted that I go to college even though all I wanted to do was to get married. She knew much better than I because the college diploma lasted much longer than the marriage. When she became very old and lost her lucidity, she would still toss out words like "Leviticus", "Medulla Oblongata", the Environmental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), and Stan DeFrietas (author of Florida gardening books.) I would be in awe that she could remember these things when she could not remember what had happened the day prior.

My mother died two years ago. I was thinking today of her funeral and how our dog had to be in attendance because we live in another city and my mother's funeral was in Tampa. The dog was in a crate back in the choir loft. She never made a sound, even when my daughter Shannon sang the Lord's Prayer. We memorialized my mother while the dog rested in her crate. I think it is the humor of the moment that allows us to get through the serious passages in our lives. My mother would have probably asked the dog, "When are you leaving?", a question she often asked me the moment I arrived to visit her.