*emerald eyes*
Today is my mother's birthday.
This is a simple fact that I know about the woman that gave me life. The others aren't so easy to remember. I was three when she passed away. Aneurysms run in my family. In September 1986, she collapsed from one that burst in her brain. I have pictures of her, fragments of her life mainly as a small child and later in her life. The middle is almost purely here-say, like a myth or fable, it hardly seems like real life. Concrete details are hard to find except on a fortunate afternoon visit to my Aunt Faye's house who was one of her closest friends. They shared their days together for many years and her stories of their lives from back then seem more like fiction than fact. Exciting days traveling and living life.
There are so many things about her, the simplest things, that I don't know. Not for myself. It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I wrote about her in depth. I had always thought about her, what her life must have been like at various times, what she enjoyed most during her 35 years, what was her proudest moment. But until that day reading aloud the deepest most treasured memories of my childhood, did I realize how magnificent a person my mother, Carolyn, really was.
Life is hard for everyone at any given point in their lives and the same was true for her. Things were pretty normal growing up. As the oldest child of a well-known doctor, she excelled at school, making friends and being a natural born leader. Her spirit was vivacious, her talents immense, her creativity always a force in her life. One thing that always stuck when hearing about her was her energy, when seeing her those gorgeous green almond-shaped eyes held your gaze even in an old photo. I can't imagine what she'd be like in person, it's almost too much to think about or wish for.
After having four kids, never marrying, relocating to Champagne, IL to raise 3 mulatto children and going back to school for Horticulture, she dropped us off at the sitters like any other day. She was in school when it happened, a severe headache that eventually ended her life. I'm so grateful to her for this life that I have, the traits that she has given me although she wasn't there to nourish them. Her sister selflessly took on that responsibility after she died. Today I celebrate her life and remember the stories I've been told, her dedication to helping those around her and of course, those emerald eyes.
