to your mother

THOUGHTS ABOUT BEING A MOTHER AND LOVING A MOTHER...FROM A MOTHER OF TWO.







Sunday, May 8, 2022

She May Be Smiling, But She is Fierce




I recently found an important picture and paperwork of Mom's from over 60 years ago when she worked at the patent office. I plan to blog about her time working at the patent office (click here to read about Mom's time with Mr. Tupper). Until then, here's a picture of Mom with her co-workers at the United States Patent Office, circa early 1960's.



(Look closely towards the right of the picture, first row, could that be a young Groucho Marks? Come on, look at those socks.)
 

As Dad tells it, Mom worked circles around those fellows. She researched and approved patents in half the time it took the rest of her co-workers. Just look at her in that picture within the sea of men in black suits and ties. She probably used her home economics degree from Virginia Tech skills to sew that power suit herself. Pay attention to her demeanor...her hands resting calmly in her lap, shoulders loose and relaxed, the sly smirk of her lips, her ankles slightly crossed.

In that sea of black suits, Mom meant business.

Take another look. No one can deny, she was fierce.

Monday, January 17, 2022

Mom's Birthday is January 13th

Greetings!

This post is about Mom. At times when I post about Mom, I include random pictures that don't go with the story but tell a story of their own, just to mix it up a bit. I used to add cute pics of the kids throughout a post, just to keep people updated on what the kids looked like, what they were up to. Well, the kids are now 14 and 12. Cute pictures are no longer a thing. In fact, this is a most recent, elusive family photo from late summer 2021. (Tip: Capture them in the car, get the selfie centered while they are engrossed in their phones, say their names, then *quick* take the pic. Your window of time is small.)


So instead of cute kid pics, you can enjoy cute cat pics. Ziggy (left) and Buzz (right) are here to entertain between the lines.

I like to post on Mom's birthday to reflect upon her life, share some joy she spread, to remember Mom as the kickass person she was. Well, here it is January 17th and not a word on here recently about Mom. I have been living life as is comes; these days life just seems to happen on a daily basis and I deal with what is happening without much thought outside of my daily bubble. And that's fine.

Last spring I was reading a local publication, Southern Maryland Woman Magazine, and came across a small ad about submitting an idea for a possible article. I folded back the page and left it next to my spot on the couch for the next 4 months. I finally took care of business and emailed a little blurb of my writing about Mom. A couple months went by and I received an email expressing interest in my writing, would I like to write about 700-800 words about Mom's story to be published in January 2022? Um, yes please.

I wrote the story almost immediately, whittled it down to the amount of words allotted, and submitted it. Then THIS BIRD EPISODE HAPPENED (THIS HAPPENED TOO) . Wowza. It would have been a powerful story to add to the article, but alas it had already been whittled to the bare bones. A few weeks later, the magazine contacted me saying they wanted to me to write more...enough words for me to piece back the whittled-out AND ADD THE BIRD STORY. I sent in my final draft, some pictures, left the rest up to the incredible people at the magazine, and went about my business. I would occasionally tell people about the article, but had no idea when it would actually be published. Life has been happening on a daily basis, so time went on and "when will the article come out" kept niggling in the back of my head, but I never took action to find out the answer. On January 13th I checked the online magazine site and noted a new cover. I digitally flipped through the pages until I came across page 21 with me and my Mama smiling back at me.

Click here for the website and flip to page 21. 

Happy 87th Birthday, Mom.