This morning I was very cold when I decided to venture out from beneath my electric mattress-pad warmed and grabbed a sweatshirt. I'm not a big fan of sweatshirts, but because I've been lazy and haven't ventured out, I've won the two that I have the last two days. It wasn't until sporting the light blue Indiana sweatshirt for a couple hours did I realize two things: 1) I was wearing my mother's old sweatshirt and 2) it was her birthday. My mom would've been 62 today.
Of course, in my head and heart, my mom will always be 52. And in actuality, she's frozen at about 48 in my mind's eye. She was last cancer-free at 48 and when I picture her she's got a full helmet-hair and bangs, her little work outfit and flats (she rarely wore the high heels I'm known for). I picture her walking with her toes turned out, heavy sighing (I did get that from her) and changing from her work stuff immediately into more comfortable attire when it was 5:30.
So 10 years later, I wonder what she would've looked like, what she would've said about my life now and how much she would've loved having grandchildren. She would've loved her grandkitties a lot less because she was allergic to cats. Maybe their forbidden nature in my childhood household made them that more alluring to me later in life.
Nonetheless, Happy Birthday to my Capricorn Mom!
2 comments:
I will always remember coming to pick you up, and your mom would be on the couch or cleaning up in the kitchen (always with the cleaning), rolling her eyes and laughing at some ridiculous shit that one of us would always say while Pepper bounced around like he was on springs.
And she always had a warning or piece of advice, like, I don't know, maybe something about putting out on a first date, followed by a stern Mili-Terri-style warning for you, Ashley. Those ten Friday night minutes were always loud and funny and happy. I miss her, too. Happy Birthday, Terri.
P.S. For Ashley and Shera--my Blogger verification word is "extri." That sounds about right.
Extri cool, Annie!
Miss Terr bunches!
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