A very happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are mothers–whether by biology, fostering, adopting, step-parenting, or acting as mother figures to those with whom you share a profound bond of love. I was fortunate to have the mother I did, and I also had others who nurtured and taught me, like Elnora and Pollye, and of course my wonderful mother-in-law Mary.
My mother loved to work crossword puzzles. Reading gave her a rich vocabulary, and the puzzles made good use of it and added to it. It’s a pastime my sister also enjoys, and when Debby was here recently and finished the book she was reading, she said she needed to get a crossword puzzle book. I still had the last two–and a pack of mechanical pencils–that I’d bought for my mother not long before she died: the giant puzzles with easier words, so they wouldn’t frustrate her.
I gave one of the books to my sister–I think only one puzzle had been started and left unfinished by me. I kept the other one, and found this puzzle that I’d done, probably while sitting next to my mother as she slept.
Notice that number 11 across is “mama”: the clue was “She’s remembered.”
She surely is.
I love hearing you talk about your mother. The closeness never dies.
Thank you.