Mother

My aunt made a copy for me of an old photograph of my mum, their mum, and my aunt, found in the depths of mum's albums when we were helping to organize for her recent move:

That's mum on the left, laughing.

My grandmother died when I was just three, but I have a slight, persistent memory of being tucked in safe and happy at her side while she read from a book she'd brought me. She had such a tough life really. Lost her mother when she was just a little girl too young even for school, lost one of her children in the days before kids could be vaccinated for the scariest of diseases, lost her husband when the oldest of the surviving ones was just 16 and the Depression was still an obstacle to survival.  But she's remembered for her gentleness and great sense of humour, traits she passed on in spades to the next generation.

I've been thinking today that that sums up motherhood: the need to carry on - with a good outlook where possible - no matter what else you have to carry, because other little lives have to come first.  I'm glad that mum and I have both lived long enough for me to put her life first, if only in the form of packing and shifting her things.

I finished that job on Friday after about three months of work, and guess what bloomed on Saturday?

I hope you have a very happy Mother's Day today, whether you spend it with children, or mothers, or both.