My Mother's Passing

In these dark days, I wasn't prepared for my own mother passing. It wasn't because of this viral scourge, her heart just gave out. She was alone in a nursing home in Canada, where my siblings couldn't come to see her for some weeks because of the self-distancing mandate. Nor can I go to see her. This is what many families whose relatives cannot attend funerals of loved ones are now facing. My mother was energetic, strong, feisty, no shrinking violet was she. With cigarette in one hand, rings on every finger, always decked out, she looked younger and better than peers of the same age. The picture on the left was her passport picture, when we lived in Iran. I never looked that good in any passport photo. The picture on the right was taken in Athens when my family lived there and I was already in college in New York. I thought it caught her spirit. Who goes to see the Acropolis dressed up and wearing high heels? My mother did. She learned curse words in the languages of the countries where we lived and used them liberally! We lived where my father worked, so she had to create a home each time we moved for four kids and a spouse who traveled alot. She may have been a great cook, but she was not your typical mother. She was a 'tiger mom' before the term was created. She told me once that she didn't care what I did, just 'be number one.' She came to my college graduation only after I told her I was valedictorian. Yes, she was demanding and tough, but she invested me with strength and resilience for which I'm grateful. And yes, I, too, am always dressed.