Always remembering my mother’s birthday

This time of year, it’s not necessarily the ending of the year that’s always first in my mind because the day before, today, is my mother’s birthday. This makes sense. My mother laid much of the foundations on which I’ve built my life, and New Year’s Eve always fills me with a sense of possibility. It’s a logical combination.

Over the years, I’ve written a lot about my mother, especially at her birthday. I’ve shared stories, memories, anecdotes, and sometimes what they meant, or still mean, to me and my life. But it’s also true, as I noted back in 2015, that as the years pass it becomes more difficult to “think of something different to say about her, or about her influence on me”.

Even so, I continue to try. I am what I am in large measure because of my parents, especially my mother, and I have a kind of high duty to observe their birthdays. I have no other way to thank them for what they did, of course.

For me, though, the annual remembrance is enough for another, personal, reason: Remembering my mother’s birthday makes me think of her, and I remember the good and bad things and sometimes even draw new insights at a time decades after she was no longer here to teach me lessons. For me, that’s probably most valuable of all.

So, once again, Happy Birthday, Mom and thanks—always.

Related:
Tears of a clown – one of my favourite posts about my mother

Previous years’ birthday posts:
My mom would be 100 (2016)
Mom at 99 (2015)
Remembering my mother (2014)
Mom’s birthday (2013)
Mom’s treasure (2012)
Remembering birthdays (2011)
That time of year (2009)
Memories and words (2008)