Mothers' Gifts

Mothers -- where would we be without them?


Sending thanks into the Great Beyond to the strong women of my family for some of the many gifts they gave me -- to my mother Virginia for teaching me to value books and culture and the New Yorker, for giving me an eye for the proper arrangement of objects, and for insisting that I learn to cook; to my grandmother Ruby for her unconditional love and for reading Freckles to me when I had the measles; to my grandmother Ida for passing along her green thumb. To great grandmother Alice and great great aunt Georgia for the quilts that taught me about color and design; to Aunt Mildred who taught me to sew; to great aunts Tellie and Marion who taught me embroidery; to Aunt Mamie who inspired me with her homemade mayonnaise, chickens, and cellar full of jars of her canning.

And to all the mothers everywhere, who are doing the best they can for their children, Happy Mother's Day!