On Mother’s Day

With this being Mother’s Day weekend, a quick change in plans on today’s post, thus a quick introduction about my mother.

My mother passed away in 1987 one month shy of turning 59 – much too young, but cancer can do that – and to think that I’m now 59. Because this post is short and spontaneous, here’s something about her today. Besides, I recently converted slides into digital files.

Mom was an Italian citizen, and we came to the US together when I was 2’2’’ at the ripe old age of three months. She grew up in the shadows of WW I, Mussolini’s Fascist rule, and Nazi occupation. She met my dad in the early 1950s while he served in Italy after his re-enlistment.

My grandfather worked in a factory to support my grandmother and four kids: my mother, her two sisters, and a crippled brother. They had to be poor as I can remember staying at their small, third floor apartment with its  cobblestone floor and the kitchen as its heat source.

I never asked why she never became a U.S. citizen, but I think she dealing with reading a test and dealing in her adopted language scared her because her skills  lie in her hands as she loved to cook and sew – much like my grandmother – her work ethic, and her gentle, kind nature was the personality that people loved.

Here’s my mom at age 35 and her Tuscan hometown in the background. Interestingly, I think that’s the factory where my grandfather worked.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!