NBC-10-Philadelphia-kimwolterman

Mom on the right with 2 of her sisters

We spent Mother's Day with my sister and her extended family at Indian Camp Creek in St. Charles County. My nephew Joe has set up a picnic for the past several years and is always kind enough to include Jim and me in the gathering. The orphans. My kids have not been here for Mother's Day for years, so it is always a little bit of a weird day for me. I have never felt like Mother's Day was MY day, really. It had belonged to my mom for so long that I never truly bought into the fact that it was also for me. While I miss my mom each and every day, it is particularly hard on Mother's Day. I can't believe she has been gone for nearly twenty-four years.

But we had a fun day at the park. (Well, except for the ticks. They were numerous and disgusting. I still feel like things are crawling in my hair.) My nephew picked up Pappy's barbeque - pulled chicken, pulled pork and brisket - and the rest of us each brought a dish. I made a salad layered with romaine lettuce, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, strawberries and mandarin oranges. It is very pretty and tasty. I brought a variety of dressings, but the best on it is a strawberry poppy seed made by Marzettis. Yummy! Everything was good, but the barbeque was great. I had not eaten any Pappy's before. That is not for a lack of trying, but each time we have gone there it has been too long of a wait.

Both of the kids called, so at least I got to talk to them which was nice. And the day began with roses and Krispy Kremes from my husband. So over all, I had a very nice Mother's Day.

red roses for a somewhat blue lady

Roy & Catherine Kubler

Today I attended a memorial service celebrating the life of my friend's mom. Every funeral is hard for me as I have lost both my parents, but those involving moms hit particularly close to home. I had never met Linda Austin's mom, but I felt like I knew her through the book Linda co-authored with her entitled Cherry Blossoms in Twilight. The book is a memoir of the time period in Yaeko's life when she was a young woman in Japan during WWII. The memorial service was probably one of the most touching I have ever attended, mostly because of the pastor who presided over the memorial. It was obvious that he personally knew Yaeko, and that he had spent time talking to Linda about her mom. So often when I go to a funeral the service seems so generic - you could just plug any one's name into the readings. That was not the case today. Yaeko was definitely part of the ceremony.

As the service wrapped up, the pastor presented a basket of dried or nearly dried flowers and leaves (Linda's mom often collected these when she was younger and pressed them into books, magazines and even her bible). He asked that we look in the basket on our way out and select an item which spoke to us. As I exited the chapel there in the basket I saw a small red rosebud. Red roses were my mom's favorite flower, so this one definitely spoke to me. It was like a sign from my mother, letting me know that she is okay. Perhaps she is even now collecting flowers with Yaeko. You just never know...