"Her children arise up and call her blessed." (Proverbs XXXI.28)

.....Today being Mother's Day, Rho and I arose rather late this morning--about 11:30am if you can believe it. And I believe you can.  We dressed rather quickly and went to Bagel Tree for brunch if that's what you might call it; though I call whatever I had, breakfast--eggs over medium well, home fries burned, a bagel with cream cheese, and a cup or two of coffee.  I believe Rhoda opted for egg salad, a bialy, and some iced tea.  After breakfast we went over to Publix and bought some flowers to bring to the cemetery where my mother lies, and then we brought them over to the gravesite.  We sat on the marble bench which Robin had bought with Mom's name "Shirley Kallman" inscribed on it.  We weren't the first ones there, however.  We saw that there were some sprigs of flowers had already been strewn across the gravesite marker.  The marker had the words. "...beloved mother, grandmother, and GG.  Rhoda guessed that was Great Grandmother of Shayne, my niece Jane's daughter; Jane is my sister, Betty's daughter.  Sometimes this get's very confusing.  My mother had three names.  First she was an Auslander, then a Rosenberg, then a Kallman.  I didn't exactly know who I was, so I just adopted the name, Ross, that didn't rhyme with anything but sounded nice as the author of anything I wrote.   

     

.....I will say that my mother did not lead a very happy life.  Shortly after she was married and I was born in 1924 in the middle of the Great Depression, my father, who was the victim of poisoned gas in WWI had his first leg amputation.  After that, it was in and out of VA hospitals until he died a  triple amputee in 1933 at the age of 33.  My mother, then, had been a caretaker for most of her married life--no easy task in any era, but especially in an era of near poverty.  She even volunteered to be a part time caretaker of my twins, Bobby and Bonny when they were born in 1955 when the financial situation was very much improved.  I must venture to say at this point, that my daughters, Bonny and Robin, have very many of the same best qualities that their grandmother possessed, and they were many.  She was loving, thoughtful, caring, and my daughters are the same--and so I am also blessed.  I will write to the Proverbs after I get their address and ask them to include me as XXXII.