I lost my best friend. It still hurts beyond belief, and my eyes are full of tears as I write this, but I don't want this to be a sad post. I want this to be a celebratory post about how much my mom meant to me and how much of her mothering spirit I want to pass on to Delilah.
I know some people think I might be romanticizing how close my mom and I were. When somebody passes away, it's easy to remember only the good things. But those who knew me before my mom died, know that I'm not romanticizing a thing. I was her 'princess' and she was my, well, everything. A shoulder to cry on, a friend to go shopping with, an intellect to discuss books with, arms to hug & hold me, and she was definitely my biggest cheerleader. According to my mom, no one was prettier, smarter, or funnier than her daughter. Somehow we missed all the teenage angst that mothers & daughters are supposed to have...we were blessed.
-She was tiny (barely 5 feet), but she could be mighty. When I was going through multiple back surgeries in high school and college, she wasn't always happy with the level of service from the hospitals and insurance companies--she would fight so hard for me that my anesthesiologist nicknamed her 'the bulldog'.
-She was a great seamstress, a horrible housekeeper, and a mediocre cook (although her spaghetti sauce is still legend among her children and our friends!)
-She was a quick wit and knew so many facts that she never played trivial pursuit with anybody b/c she knew all the answers. If there was a game of trivial pursuit, she would just be the host and read all the questions. Rarely did she have to turn the card over to look at the answer.
-She loved cute, little things like Tweety Bird and VW Bugs.
-She had a round tummy, but great legs: more than once I witnessed a stranger compliment her on them.
-She believed in the value of community service.
-She was an avid reader and taught me that sometimes finishing that book IS more important than a few hours of sleep.
-She was a mother to everybody. When she died, more than one friend told me that they felt like they had lost their own mother.
-I hate that Delilah will grow up not knowing her, but I will try to pass on as much of her as I can. I know my mom and Red would have loved each other.
-She wasn't perfect, but she was perfect as my mom. That's all anyone can ask for.
This picture was taken in the summer of 1999 when I was staying with my aunt in NYC. My mom came to visit and we had the BEST time. It was a casual, spur-of-the-moment picture taken when we first woke up one morning, but it has turned out to be one of favorite pictures of us. It's almost palpable how happy we make each other in this pic.
3 Generations: my mom, me, Delilah (all of us between 13 and 18 months)
But, as we all know, kids often have the most fun with the things you'd least expect. In a giant room full of multiple bouncy houses, slides, and toys, both girls became obsessed with: heels. Little plastic princess heels about 6 sizes too big for them. They tried on heels, traded heels, cooked in heels, rearranged furniture in heels, mowed in heels, and in general strutted their stuff in heels. Enjoy.
