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The Sassy Sandpiper: Celebrating Many Moms

LMcopy

By M.R. WILSON, TB reporter

A salute to moms today — and dads, too.

Happy Mother’s Day!

That goes for fathers, too, because without them there would be no need at all for this Hallmark holiday, those Kodak moments (in the Dinosaur Age, before digital photography), the approximately 122 million phone calls, and the $2.4 billion Americans spent in 2015 on flowers for Mother’s Day (Parade magazine, May 1, 2016).

My own precious Mom has been gone 20 years. That’s hard to fathom. I miss her terribly. She would have turned 90 in September. She’d have those dancing amber eyes and a smile that could comfort any wound. I wish I’d been able to give her grandchildren, but alas—I never birthed a babe of my own.

Mom was enormously proud of her step-grandson Luke, and as the years flew by, we all sort of forgot about the “step.”

My dearest memory of those early times is a second grader with wavy reddish hair and keen hazel eyes. He stole onto my lap in the faculty room at Saint Paul’s Episcopal School. A Kodak moment!

At middle age, I made horrible new-mom mistakes. Luke and I have since navigated some of the most turbulent of life’s white water rapids, and his enduring love is one of my greatest blessings. Luke grew from a painfully shy, gangly little boy into a successful, strapping 6-footer. It is a privilege to call him my son. (The accompanying photo shows The Sassy Sandpiper and a younger Luke on a special walk.)

I’ve felt maternal rescuing barely feathered blue jays and mockingbirds, hand-feeding baby parakeets and cockatiels, and “facilitating” monarchs into the world from caterpillar to butterfly.

Women who play in the dirt feel a sense of surrogate motherhood when planting a seed and nurturing a sprout. With reverence for the greatest mother of all, Earth herself, a prayer is whispered: “Grow and prosper!”

The second Sunday of May was designated a national holiday by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. Give moms and mothering the honor they’re due. You wouldn’t be here otherwise. If you’re lucky enough to have your own Mom or someone who treated you like a son or daughter yet in this world, I envy you. I don’t have to tell you what to do.

I can’t observe Mother’s Day without remembering my Granny and great-grandmother, too. My late Aunt Beth, whose birthday (May 11) often fell on Mother’s Day, holds a special place in my heart. I’m indebted to the great ladies who brought my cherished friends and relatives into being. These women have enriched my life.

This tribute to motherhood would not be complete without bestowing a Most Honorable Mention upon Mama Cat Boa. Hardly more than a kitten herself, she wandered onto the front porch one early summer day and delivered six perfect little miracles a week later.

Many Moms to celebrate!

The Sassy Sandpiper | Columns | Holidays | Mother’s Day | TB Reporter

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