Every year at this time, I find a way to honor my mother. It was 17 years ago today that she left this world. It hardly seems possible that she never would know me as the woman I have become. She knew me only as a young child, and subsequently as a young woman just beginning to find her way in life. The last time my mother would recall seeing me was when she left me at my first, cockroach-infested apartment in Boston. She cried leaving me there. She made my father turn back twice. She needed to see me one more time before finally gaining the courage to leave me in that strange place with little money, no job and definitely no clue! I thought she was a little over-the-top that day. How far I have come. Now, as a mom, I can completely relate to what she must have been feeling. But she had to let go. She left me there to head home to her own reality. Her true "empty nest" years were just beginning. I had just graduated from college and her job, for all intents and purposes, had been done. She hoped to turn her focus to enjoying her days with my father. They had been married 30 years exactly and had spent countless more together since their high school days. They had plans for their new life together. Plans to travel, plans to boat on Lake Champlain, plans to spend time together doing the things they loved to do. Top on my parents' list of loves was driving. Seriously. Just driving. They would get in the car on a Sunday afternoon and just head out to tour Vermont. They would have no plan and could give no details as to where they might end up or when. They would not hesitate to drive up a strangers driveway "just to see" or to stop and chat with a farmer along the way. They had no shame in acting like tourists in their own state. Fall was my mom's favorite time of year, second only to any day when the sun provided tanning power. As much as she hated the bitter cold of winter in Vermont, she loved and appreciated the beauty of Vermont in the autumn months. The favorite pastime for my parents in those days was to meander. And so it was....together on a brilliant Vermont fall afternoon. Out for one of their infamous foliage rides, pleasantly cruising through Whiting, Vermont. That is where my mom suffered the brain aneurysm which would ultimately take her from us.
So, each fall, I try to think of her all around me as I look at the beautiful colors of Vermont. Yesterday was one of those picture perfect Vermont days. There were a million other things I could (and should) have been doing. Instead, I took the opportunity to go....to meander up into the mountains, to be with a great friend, to enjoy nature and to remember Roz. She was such a character....such an amazing friend to so many, a loyal and loving wife, a mother who didn't miss a minute. On this day, I know she would be proud that I place a value on all the same things she did....family, friends and this wonderful place we call home.
