To all our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers too – I hope you have a happy and relaxing day!

King James Version (KJV) Ps-16-6

The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places;

yea, I have a goodly heritage.

This photo was taken a few months before she died; one of the last of the three of us together.

Like many of you, I’m sure, there is some sadness and longing as I think of my mother. We celebrated our last Mother’s Day together in 1997, so today I will think about all of the good years we had as mother and daughter, and later as Grandmother and mother too.

I was lucky to have her for the first fifty years of my life, as I wasn’t born until after her 41st birthday. She was an older mom, but I like to think that she had worked out all of the kinks on her older children by the time she got to me!

My mother was an enthusiastic and hands-on grandmother. She loved children, and they loved her back.  I think a part of her never grew up. She taught one of my nephews to climb a tree, and my daughter to ride a two-wheeler. Cousin Kevin called her the “party maker.”

My daughter was the youngest grandchild, and very close to my mother from the day she was born until the day that her grandmother died. The year before, she and my son-in-law published a book in honor of her grandmother’s 90th birthday. We all contributed essays and tributes, but my daughter’s was the best:

When I was a teenager, I remember Grandma used to say “You never listen to me!” But Gram, you were wrong. I listened, and I watched and learned; and I believe that there’s a little magic piece of you inside me.

I know it’s that little piece that makes me stop on my walk to the train in the morning to watch the rest of the sunrise, or pull over to the side of the road to pick up a fall leaf or smell the lilacs in the spring.

Grandma used to cut fruit apart to show me the beautiful patterns inside. She watered the plants and told me to listen to them drink. She brushed the dirt off the vegetables in the garden and bit into them, telling me to taste their goodness.  She sees beauty and magic everywhere. I believe she sees God all the time, in all the good and lovely things of the earth.

Gram, I hope you know how rich my life is and what wonderful memories I have because you were there for me. What a lucky child I was to have a grandmother with an endless supply of “rainy day” projects and your bottomless scrap bags and boxes full of fabric, felt, sequins, buttons, construction paper, papier-mache, modeling clay, paints and brushes! You were always thinking of Kevin [her cousin] and me, planning special treats and activities for us. And you always, always had time to listen to my childish thoughts and ideas. Maybe I was “spoiled” as a child, but I think it’s great that you made me feel like the most important person in the world.

Even now, I feel your unconditional love and your prayers for me every day. When I can’t sleep, I hear your voice: “Think quiet thoughts.”  When I’ve messed things up, I remember your wise, “What’s done is done.”  Most important I remember your “I love you.”

Thank you for all you have given to me.  Happy Birthday!

Grandma Jessie & Jen

On Mother’s Day, I also think about the other women who encouraged and inspired me.

Among my earliest memories is Aunt Flossie, also my godmother, who had a house full of grown sons when I was born, and our next-door neighbor until I was nine. She said I was “my little petunia in the onion patch”, and spoiled me a bit! She also taught me about wild flowers in the woods, and made delicious pancakes, just for me, with warm syrup in a blue Shirley Temple pitcher.

Flossie & her grandchildren

My Aunt Verna was a missionary to the migrant workers in Florida in the 1950’s and 60’s, so kind, with a gentle voice. She was my mom’s youngest and closest sister, and they lived together for the last 10 years of my mother’s life.

Aunt Anna, widowed quite young in life, kept the family farmhouse open for many years, a fine Christian woman, and my mother’s oldest sister. She could be a bit stern, but had a soft heart under it all. If ever anyone in our family was in need, physically or spiritually, her home was open to them. You could always count on a chicken dinner with vegetables from the garden every Sunday after church, served to whomever appeared at the table!

I never knew my grandmother, but she raised five very fine women.

Sisters Anna, Sarah, Evelyn, Jessie & Verna, at the farm

I am thankful to have had these strong women in my life, and it is a pleasure to remember them particularly today.

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

Proverbs 31:10

The real reward for being a mother is, one day, to see the fine grown woman or man that grew from that tiny baby. I am one of the truly blessed to have a daughter who is a fine woman, wife, mother.

Me, my daughter and my grandsons on the day that the younger one was born, just before Thanksgiving Day. We had much to be thankful for!

Please share your memories and stories about your mothers, grandmothers, and other women you honor!