Sunday Reflection: Mother's Day Memories

So today was Mother's Day in many parts of the world, so happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

My own mother died more than a decade ago, so mostly what I am left with today are memories. And, to be honest, there aren't that many memories because my mother and I were not ever all that close.

Well, we didn't see eye to eye on most things in life.

That said, some memories are better than no memories, right?

I never got the impression that my mother actually enjoyed being a mother and a parent. I think she liked the idea of being "the proud mother," but not really the dirty nitty-gritty reality of it. Like many aspects of her life, she liked the image of things better than their tangible manifestation.

If you've ever seen one of those English "period dramas" with gentry, where the children are brought into their parents for an "audience" for an hour or so, and otherwise managed by nannies and governesses... I think that was more my mother's speed.

Maybe that sounds kind of harsh, and I'm not really interested in turning this into a sad song and dance! Mostly I wanted to latch on to some of the positive things I remember about my mom.

What I always come back to, is that we always connected well over cooking and in the kitchen. As mentioned, we didn't see eye to eye on an awful lot of things — in fact I would venture to guess that it were most things — but we did both really enjoy food and cooking.

In some ways, our kitchen styles complemented each other.

I was all about the flavor and things making an impact on people's palates, while she was more interested in weather it was pretty and fancy and when we put our heads together we could actually combine it into something really wonderful.

I learned most of what I know about cooking from my mom, because she put me to work feeling potatoes and apples and other things when I was probably no more than five or six, and I was always helping in my parents extensive kitchen garden so I developed a great appreciation for fresh produce from a very early age.

Interestingly enough, the last photos I have of my mom — along with the only video clip I have of her before she passed away in 2008 — we're taken in the kitchen of her condo in the south of Spain, where they retired to!

I would also attribute a large part of my love of gardening to my mother —although also to my parents in general — because in the spring and summertime she was always outside planting things and growing things... and she was happy to show me how things worked and grew.

And so, I can thank her for much of my pickiness when I am looking at the fruits and vegetables at the supermarket!

Thanks for visiting, and have a great week ahead!

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Created at 2024-05-13 00:38 PDT
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