To be reminded.

After sitting in the Dentist's chair for 2 hours, the root canal went off without a hitch, and we drove back home - a 160 mile round trip to Sheridan, Wyoming, the closest dentist's office...Thank you for your  wishes, thoughts and prayers as I do believe I am FINALLY on the mend...can you hear a groggy "yay" over here? But then ~

Late last night,

a little past midnight, 

I received a phone call - it was my youngest, and she was so excited that it was only after she heard my first croak of "but are you okay??!!" that she realized how late it was...she apologized profusely, then remembered that I had a root canal too...she wanted to hang up right away but I told her "no wait, talk with me awhile..."

During a "Post Communism" class (she's a political science major :) she learned of the ever changing boundary lines and political history of Eastern Europe, and began researching her maternal great grandparents- my Mother's parents.  Since her Fiancee's Mom loves genealogy, they have been researching old family documents & information online these past few months.  She was so excited to have found her  great grandfather's registration card from when he was 24 and when he was older, that she just couldnt wait to share... we talked about how Grandma , my mom, would have loved the history that she was finding, and would have loved her Fiancee, and then I remembered..."its after midnight, today is her birthday"...

There was silence on the other end, then a small sniffle...we cried together a bit, missing her together... and then we shared memories - how she loved spring, babies, baseball games... and it was all good. As talks between mothers and daughters do, I then listened contentedly as my daughter shared wedding plans, school, job, summer plans, letting the physical distance between us melt into timeless starlit space...  

A late night talk, between mother and daughter, and it was all good.

photo by W. Crawford

A Mother and her Daughters; the daughter on the end is massively pregnant 

with the one she talked to late last night...

~

And 6 years ago, during another late night talk between a mother and daughter;

 my middle sister asked my mom, who was dying of terminal ovarian cancer, 

if she could do us a favor...

"Can you mom, can you let us know?  

That when we feel the first warm breeze on an early Spring day, 

or see a butterfly flitting about the flowers, or a gift of  a rare lone feather,

that we are reminded that we are loved?"

Thank you mom. I love you too.

~