Yesterday was my mother’s birthday, and as I sit here thousands of miles away, I wish I could be near her. I wish I could simply open a door, or turn my head and see her, hug her and breathe her smell, that delicate mixture of face powder and perfume that always seemed to surround her.
I cannot erase the distance, but I can remember, and I can smile as I think about her when I hold my daughter in my arms, or I kiss the folds of my son’s neck. I can hear her voice in my mind, singing slightly out of tune as she cooks, the afternoon sun streaming through the kitchen window.
I can wish for health and happiness, and the passage of time that will bring us together again some day not too far away.
I found this video the other day, of this song that my mother used to sing to me when I was a child. I now sing it to my own children, and it always inspires such tenderness in me, more so today that I am so far away on this special day.
