My Mum’s Gifts from the Past … Still Helping Me Today!

I’ve written before to tell you about some of the treasures I’ve been saving for a rainy day – one if them a boxful of letters and cards that go back to when I was 10 years old.

I’ve also told you how even now, nearly 12 years since my Mum succumbed to stage 4 lung cancer, I haven’t quite yet been able to bring myself to go through that treasure trove of memories. On several occasions I’ve tried, but it evoked such strong emotions and weeping fits that I had to stop.

As Mother’s Day approached this year …

… driven in part by the reflective mood brought on by the COVID-19 situation – not to mention the inspiration from family and friends who have shared various pictures and cards as we have reminisced together on Zoom – I vowed to tear into my closet to find inspiration for my Mother’s Day blog.

I was specifically looking for a group of mementos from Mum’s dying days (lipstick kisses on notepads, pressed flowers, store-bought and handmade cards, the little brass bell I had hidden from Mum when she tried to enact a system for calling me, etc.). I saved all of these and more in that memory box I knew I would have the pleasure of going through one day.

The story of me and my longterm need for closet re-organization is one I’ll save for another day. Suffice it to say that once again I was denied in terms of finding the particular envelope I was looking for. So I still have that to look forward to!

However, I WAS rewarded with finding my Mum’s personal stash of all the Mother’s Day cards my two sisters and I had given her over all those many years!

Some were downright funny – such as the one that proclaimed how “Chinese families honor their elders; too bad for you – this isn’t China!” (My mother had always been enamored of China – and in fact one of the first places from which I let the wind carry her ashes was off The Bund in Shanghai.).

Another humorous card spoke of how God created Moms – and then he rested (while Moms haven’t rested since!)

Most of the cards, though, were more poignant in their highlighting of the many wonderful gifts Mum gave us.

Like:

• Encouraging us to dream
• Protecting us “just enough” (but not too much, so we would end up growing strong and tough)
• Good common sense values

These wonderful cards sent by my sisters and me over a period of some 60+ years set me to thinking about Mum‘s life.

Which in turn set me to thinking of all she did for me.

When I was younger I didn’t always see the value of all she tried to do for me. But I never had a doubt about what a special Mum I had and how I had lucked out.

In fact, I owe her everything, because she gave everything she had for me and to me. She did her absolute best, and I can never thank her enough for her extreme labor of love.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mummy! I still think about you every day, and I am so very grateful for our time together.