Wednesday, August 15, 2007

My Mother's Birthday is today

Even though she has been dead since 1994, my mother's spirit lives on in her children and grandchildren. Today is her 97th birthday and I salute her gift of life, her indomitable spirit even when grief and pain were strong, and her gentle ways.

My mother was the product of a Norwegian mother and Swedish father and spoke Norwegian in her Spokane home until she went to school. She met my father, a budding orchardist who felt called to the ministry, on the Oregon Slope and married him and went off to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago during the Depression.

She created a home for our family that was loving, affectionate, full of laughter and joy, and I miss her yet.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing. I lost my mom earlier this year and it is comforting to hear that you miss them years later.

Miss Kitty said...

I do the same on my late dad's birthday. May your mom's soul rest in peace.

Joel said...

Miss Kitty, I have no doubt her soul is doing just that. Being Catholic, I tend to have a high standard for the word "saint," but if there are such, my grandmother was/is one of them. If anything, Ms. Kitty is understating her goodness.

I posted more about her on her birthday a couple of years ago here.

LinguistFriend said...

That, of course, is our only immortality, the effect that we have on the world and those who live in it. Clearly your mother had a considerable and unforgettable effect.
LinguistFriend