I’m still not quite proficient in this blogging sphere and haven’t yet figured out how to thank those of you who have taken the time to acknowledge some shared connection with something I have posted. However, I am grateful, and I admit to a thrill when I get a notice from WordPress.
This past Mother’s Day brought with it joy and sorrow, surprises and disappointments. My elder two daughters presented me gifts that displayed a true sense of my aesthetics, most grandchildren remembered with sweet sayings and cards, and close-almost-family surprised me with thoughtful gifts and wishes.
I missed my mom, GiGi, as did my cousins, who were all texting remembrances of aunties and shared grandmothers…and I dwelled too long on my own mortality.
My daughter, with whom I share a home with her family, left after a breakfast of home-made egg McMuffins for the Atlanta Zoo, but I preferred to remain behind. It was then that I learned Carole Ann had passed away the day before. Carole Ann, my friend of 71 years. I was lucky enough to see her just a few weeks ago. I had decided to brave Covid and travel to Florida…call it intuition. Not even a half hour after I left her, I had a major arthritis flare…call that intuition too.
Not everyone I “mothered” felt called upon to wish me a happy day, but there were certainly enough joy and love to see me through my most recent loss, my missing my own mother as well as those women who no longer are present in life but live large in my heart and memories: Marilyn, Faye, Sr. Libby, and now Carole. Happy Mother’s Day.
Carole J. Garrison 