MOTHER'S DAY

 She was my anchor in a sea of chaos.

My mother Marie passed away nearly fifteen years ago. When those whom we dearly love are subtracted from our lives, we never fully recover. The memories are a haunting comfort that intercepts the emptiness.

We often embellish the memory of the dead with effusive comparisons of sainthood. Perhaps my mother was near sainthood - - enduring my father's unrelenting violence and abuse, and patiently tolerating my unbridled wild youthful years.

My mother was brilliant. She had an insatiable quest for learning and (like myself) had an enormous amount of widely varied interests. Among her many talents, she was an extraordinary pianist. As my first piano teacher, she ignited my lifelong passion for music.

Despite the many brutally dark times in my mother's life, she always managed to keep her remarkably appealing physical appearance and an admirable semblance of inner serenity and dignity.

Every Mother's Day I post the same photos - - undoubtedly because I'm an annoying creature of habit - - but also because some of them are among my favorites.

Somewhere in Nevada, near Reno.

My parents, when they were first married, in winter coats. I found this photo recently and had never seen it before. It was very faded and damaged, but I managed to restore it with software.

This has always been my favorite photo of my mom. Taken before she was married. She was living and working in Red River, New Mexico where her relatives owned a vacation resort. She always maintained that those years were the happiest of her life.

Back in New Jersey, before she was married.

I needed help walking when I was a toddler - - and ironically I now need help navigating with a walker.

Some people thought my mom wore wigs but she never did. Her hair was thick....and carefully elaborated by a Mexican hairdresser.

Once, on an unnerving whim, she dyed her hair chestnut brown. That radical change only lasted for about a month

Long ago, one of my cousins was in the Miss Universe Pageant. She gave my mother this official Miss Universe dress because they were the same size.

My mother in Solvang, California. I like this photo because it's typical of how she usually looked.

My father took this photo of me and mom. It was raining, but just as he snapped the camera, the sun came out.

Happy Mother's Day, Jon