floral memories...

...my Mum grew 'mums among the roses, pansies, poppies, sweetpeas, foxgloves and phlox in our little garden at Kanpur. There was always a riot of color and fragrance just outside our french doors. Mum learned Ikebana somewhere along the way and many of our garden flowers would then show up competing for honors at the local flower show. They'd also show up in still life: Mum painted some of her Ikebana creations; the canvases hung in various locations around our house. I loved to watch the intense concentration on her face as she created works of art - her skill at once both comforting and intimidating.

Mother's Day is always a mixed bag of emotions for me. I love that it's a celebration of all that's nurturing about mothers; the commercial aspects, however, sail right over my head. Frenetic advertisements all over the place want me to spend money to show a special lady I love her. A Waterford vase! Flowers from 1-800-___, A card....gotta have a card...

I fought back tears at a store on Mother's Day 1997 when the store clerk asked me if I was looking for a gift for my mother. I don't have a mother anymore, whispered a fierce voice inside me as hot tears welled up in my eyes. I walked past the alarmed clerk and out the door. It was a little over a year after Mum passed on, so I could perhaps be forgiven my emotion. These days, I tend to treat the ads around Mother's Day with a fair bit of cynicism and a chance to pick up some great gifts. :-) That's dreadful, but there you go... 

Every day is a sort of Mother's Day for me, instead. More often than not, I have a candle burning in front of her picture - a simple, fragrant way of remembering a warm, nurturing, presence.

Celebrate Mums - the real kind! :-)

Image: Wikipedia, with no copyright attached