When My Mothers Library Burned Down: An Amazing Life
Mother turned thirty years old two weeks after I was born. And for the next 60 plus years we were vital parts of each others lives. If those sixty years were broken into thirds it could easily be said that she helped me maintain (some degree) of sanity during the first third, while I was being raised in a home of confusion and uncertainty. I helped her maintain (some degree) of sanity during the last third when she was navigating waters of divorce, pain and independence she had never anticipated. Most of those last twenty years were spent with her living in the same house as us and our children, and all of those years saw her engaging in every adventure, trip and daring-do our family engaged in.
The middle third were years of life being lived and preparing for the pain which no one knew, for certain, was coming. I was with mother a few days/weeks before she knew I was there, and I was with mother a few hours after she knew I was there.
It was a privilege, beyond description, to be allowed to share life with this amazing individual. She was not perfect, (neither are we) and not every day was roses. But taken in sum, these were a blessed twenty years which have effected everyone who was privileged to live in the same house with her, in very deep ways.
Her library of experiences, knowledge, education, travels, accomplishments and every imaginable opportunity of excellence was expansive. Its loss is colossal.
Mother turned thirty years old two weeks after I was born. And for the next 60 plus years we were vital parts of each others lives. If those sixty years were broken into thirds it could easily be said that she helped me maintain (some degree) of sanity during the first third, while I was being raised in a home of confusion and uncertainty. I helped her maintain (some degree) of sanity during the last third when she was navigating waters of divorce, pain and independence she had never anticipated. Most of those last twenty years were spent with her living in the same house as us and our children, and all of those years saw her engaging in every adventure, trip and daring-do our family engaged in.
The middle third were years of life being lived and preparing for the pain which no one knew, for certain, was coming. I was with mother a few days/weeks before she knew I was there, and I was with mother a few hours after she knew I was there.
It was a privilege, beyond description, to be allowed to share life with this amazing individual. She was not perfect, (neither are we) and not every day was roses. But taken in sum, these were a blessed twenty years which have effected everyone who was privileged to live in the same house with her, in very deep ways.
Her library of experiences, knowledge, education, travels, accomplishments and every imaginable opportunity of excellence was expansive. Its loss is colossal.
Mother turned thirty years old two weeks after I was born. And for the next 60 plus years we were vital parts of each others lives. If those sixty years were broken into thirds it could easily be said that she helped me maintain (some degree) of sanity during the first third, while I was being raised in a home of confusion and uncertainty. I helped her maintain (some degree) of sanity during the last third when she was navigating waters of divorce, pain and independence she had never anticipated. Most of those last twenty years were spent with her living in the same house as us and our children, and all of those years saw her engaging in every adventure, trip and daring-do our family engaged in.
The middle third were years of life being lived and preparing for the pain which no one knew, for certain, was coming. I was with mother a few days/weeks before she knew I was there, and I was with mother a few hours after she knew I was there.
It was a privilege, beyond description, to be allowed to share life with this amazing individual. She was not perfect, (neither are we) and not every day was roses. But taken in sum, these were a blessed twenty years which have effected everyone who was privileged to live in the same house with her, in very deep ways.
Her library of experiences, knowledge, education, travels, accomplishments and every imaginable opportunity of excellence was expansive. Its loss is colossal.