Mamma Update

We just passed mother's day, which made me think I'd like to post about my mom.  There's so little to talk about lately that when something pleasant or memorable happens I want to make sure to record it.

I did see mom on Mother's Day, but her village was so hectic and busy that we really only got to be together for a few minutes. I like to go see my mom on Sundays because of our schedule, but in all honesty it's not the best day - we don't get out of church in time to really get out there and see her before she's off to her own church, and getting out there after her church is done also leaves us little time for a visit before she's off to dinner or we're off to our Sunday evening to-dos.  Mother's Day was no exception - it was a short visit with little recognition from her since she seemed so distracted by the numbers of people coming in and out for visits with their own moms.

Much more pleasant indeed was her birthday, which was a few weeks earlier.  Dad and I met Margaret and my mom at one of our favorite restaurants, The Oasis Cafe on 500 East here in SLC.  It's got such tasty fare that we thought it would be worth the effort of bringing my mom all the way there and dealing with a room buzzing with the noise of many conversations.  Indeed, mom did seem to have a little trouble focusing on any of us because there was so much color and light and movement all around her.  Happily, mom seemed to be taking it all in with great delight and heightened joy.  So often now her emotions seem to be more one-dimensional and much stronger.  This is fun when the emotions are on the positive side, and heartbreaking when they are the opposite. On this fun day she seemed mostly to delight.  Like I said, however, she had trouble finding our faces or seeing us at all.  That is, until Margaret and I began to sing.

Yes, we were in a crowded popular restaurant at lunchtime, surrounded by people.  We didn't sing at the top of our lungs, that's for sure.  We just leaned in together and sang.  I find it absolutely beautiful that my mother will still key in absolutely to music.  That she will almost instantly meet your eyes and sing with you as much as she can, and you can see those pure emotions sweep over her.  We sang things from Oklahoma, from other musicals, and from our childhood favorite, a Broadway show pretty much no one has ever heard of - Really Rosie.  It is the BEST.  A show that uses many of the simple tales of Maurice Sendak to tell the story of a group of kids in NYC playing in their back alley. It is AWESOME and we all know every word.  "I'm Really Rosie....and I'm Rosie Real....."  I absolutely savored that experience of the three of us singing to each other in a quiet circle in the middle of that bustling restaurant.  Dad was our tearful audience.  And our reward was a delicious lunch together.

Trying to get my mom to look at a camera is hard.  That's okay.  She was happy. And so were we.  

By the way, I really love having a sister.  Especially my sister.