Happy Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day. My kids came through with phone calls and flowers. Julie called from Seattle to wish me a good day and chat a bit. I miss her more than usual today.
Then Erika came over with a beautiful card and bouquet of flowers, including just one carnation. She said this was for all those times that, as a kid, I had to pin carnations on all the moms that came to the International Institute for the Mother's Day program. The smell of carnations takes me right back to those days...I don't ever remember telling her that story, so it was a neat surprise!
We also took some time out and went for coffee. It was fun, as she aways makes me laugh.
I am a lucky mom to have such delightful daughters.

Of course, I've been thinking about my own mother, Taala Ostrovskis. She died in 1997 and I still miss her every day. For a few years after she passed away, my girls and I would take a few of her ashes and scatter them at some of her favorite places in town: the lakefront at Northpoint, the botanical gardens at Mitchell Park, the Washington Park lagoon. We did this on Mother's Day and her birthday in August. We haven't done this for a year or two, as mom wanted some of her ashes scattered on the old family cemetery plot on Saaremaa, in Estonia. So--I need to save some for whenever I get there.

I wish I had a picture of her in digital form, although I have hundreds of snapshots. I'll scan a few and post them soon. Happy Mother's Day, ema, where ever you are.