Sunday, May 8, 2011

in honor of maria antonia...


this beautiful lady is my mom when she was newly engaged to my dad. when i look at this picture it makes me smile to know that there was a time, long before she grew ill, that she was happy. really happy. i remember many happy moments with her. like the time she made me laugh as she covered my bloody knee after i'd nearly ripped my kneecap off. she never missed a beat as she carefully attended to the wound; never showed a drop of fear as the blood gushed from my leg. or the time when those mean boys in high school sent me a pair of band-aids with a note to congratulate me for needing them (i was quite the small-breasted teen; their commentary was crushing.) she reminded me that there would come a day when i would laugh about it. she was right. she was always right. she had a love for life that glowed from her with her every breath. she had a voice like an angel. i can still hear that voice, all these years after her departure.  i can still see that smile and hear her laughter and feel the touch of her hands on my face. it's been more than 25 years, and still she is here. and still i miss her. her love is so powerful that those years seem a minute...and i smile, even as i write, remembering the woman who helped make me who i am. i know she is close by and she smiles with me. i know that no matter how many days pass, she will always stay. i love this woman whom i call mother. and so, on this day i honor her. and all the moms out there who give their hearts so readily. i honor their courage and their wisdom and their laughter. i honor every woman who graces this mother earth...and leaves behind the sparkling trails of strong mother love. i wish them all as beautiful a life as my mom gave me. and it is my greatest wish that they all know the kind of love i hold for her. every woman deserves that kind of love.

happy mother's day, mama.
happy mother's day to ALL.

1 comment:

Merry ME said...

Beautiful inside and out - easy to see where you get it from.

May joy fill your heart