Happy Birthday Nana!

My Mum is a sweetheart. She’s tiny (5’1″) and blonde with vivid blue eyes and a wonderful smile. She looks very little like her 5’8″ brown-eyed, brown-haired, brown-skinned eldest child *(that would be me, people). But she forgave me for that quite some time ago.

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Mum thinks we (Jeanie and I) give her a hard time in blogworld- and to be fair we have (in the past) picked on a couple of minor indiscretions a bit. So I’d like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

Cause my Ma is a gem. An emerald amongst mothers. She waltzed into motherhood after enjoying a career and independence – something which in the sixties was not all that common. She walked into motherhood in the bush after growing up a city girl – with a squalling babe a good seven hours drive from her own family. And she wandered into motherhood in the bush with very little previous contact with children.

Just the thought of that kind of challenge humbles the hell out of me.

And yet she survived. And stayed sane. She cherished me. She cherished my sister and my brother too. Despite the health challenges we all threw at her, and the ones she faced down herself, despite having to send us all away to boarding school at the age of 12 (and crying as she drove away each time) that love stayed true and strong. Although I have managed to forget her sacrifices at times over the years, she cherishes me still. Even when I have been particularly hard to get along with, or buried in my own troubles, or detirmined to walk a path she would not have chosen for me, she has stood firm. Beside me. Powered by a Mother’s Love.

My mother also instilled in me a love of the visual. I investigated photography thanks to her belief in my potential (and disregard for the cost of such a hobby!). She’s an artist who is about to rediscover her talent after putting it aside for about four decades. I can’t wait to see what she puts on the canvasses Jeanie gave her for her birthday.

And she shared with me her passion for words. (She’s neck-and-neck with my father as my chief proof-readers for anything I publish. NB They do not proof read my blog posts… nothing would ever make it to upload!)

My mother was right by my side as SSB and I shakily faced the monster of our son’s heart problems – washing and folding and hugging and listening as required. Man, I needed her then. And not just for the washing. She delights (these days) in Dash’s energy and normal-little-boy-ness as much as I. We don’t speak about what happened. We just revel in his NOW. And that in itself is a gift.

And this Little Woman? Well, her hairstyle and taste in accessories maybe a tad wilder, but she possesses the same build (little but full of vigour) and steely determination as my Mum. I see little glimpses of many of my family’s (and SSB’s) womenfolk in TLW… but Nana shines through often. In the twinkle when something cheeky is about to happen. In the sudden rush of affection (and terrific heartfelt hugs) when life is good. In the will to overcome whatever obstacle has the audacity to put itself in her way.

I do hope she inherits her Nana’s ladylike manners too. (Hmmmm…They seem to have skipped a generation there?).

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Last night Mum had her whole family (husband, children, grandchildren) with her to celebrate her milestone. She spent half of today thanking me for hosting the gathering. But really, it was just my way of saying thanks…

For everything. Well done, city girl.

And Happy (Mumble-ty) Birthday!

As Dad would say… Your blood is worth bottling!