Celebrating my Mom on Mother's Day!


Celebrating my Mom on Mother's Day!

2023 Update for Mother's Day!

It is Mother’s Day 2023… I wrote this a few years ago to share my love and admiration for my mom.

This last year has reminded me more of how amazing and strong she is.

My father, her husband of sixty-three years, passed away, and her courage and strength through these trying times are a great reminder of why I admire her.

Her zest for life, her love of her family, and her inner strength to cope with a new life without my Dad in a new home is amazing and a lesson to her family.

Hope all the mothers in the world have a fabulous day!.

You start out Mother's Day thinking about your early years of life.
 

My earliest memories were in Lagrange, GA.  Vaguely remember, but I remember picking pecans from the grove nearby and going to the Struletzes, and they had a candy cabinet,   Not just a shelf but a whole cabinet of candy.  I remember cousins visiting and getting into trouble.  I also remember Marcia and Walter off to kindergarten and preschool.

But, my first memories, specifically around my Mom, were in Savannah.  We moved back to Savannah when I was around 5.  We moved into a nearby house near the synagogue, and the bathroom had cartoon pictures of naked people.  My Mom was working at my Grandpa's dress store. She always made sure I was cared for before she got home, including lunch with Granny and Grandpa many days.  She would make sure if I was to head home, I was watched after, and she was home in the afternoon for us.

We moved into the current house they still live in when I was 7, and to make it easy for some of you, that was 50 years ago.  

My Mom joined the club to host family meals, Seders and is a great cook, so it became natural for the Silverman family meals at the house as well as at Aunt Janet and Aunt Fay's. 

Childhood Years


As I grew up and started school at Savannah Hebrew Day School, some days were more challenging than others for me.  Occasionally, she or I would forget or make my lunch, and she would show up during the morning classes, waltz into class, and bring me lunch from the local kosher deli at the time. I certainly didn't mind, and she made me feel quite special.  I can still remember the smell of a warm corned beef sandwich.

She is a beautiful lady, and watching her and my Dad get ready to go out with friends or for a celebration like a Bar Mitzvah or family wedding was quite special.  They together made quite a handsome couple and a good reminder of how lucky we were to have such nice and loving parents who genuinely loved, liked, and respected .each other.

I won't go into too many details regarding the effort she put in for my Bar Mitzvah and my brothers.  The stuffing of envelopes of invitations for days, the catering, the cooking for the Saturday night dinner at the house.  The memory that stands out is that my Bar Mitzvah was a week after my birthday, and since my birthday is around Thanksgiving, she was worried it would go unnoticed.  So, she and Dad took me to get a watch on my birthday.  It was a Timex digital watch, and it made me feel love in the chaos.  

Early Adult and College Years


When I advanced to college, my parents were not too focused on my studies.  Honestly, I was so determined and driven at that age that they didn't need to be.  However, Mom was focused on me, my health, and my happiness.  I remember going home for a school break exhausted.  I wanted to graduate with honors and was so determined and pushed myself at school and co-oping with IBM. I am sure I looked worn out.  She sat me aside one day and asked me what would be so wrong if I got a "B" on occasion and had some fun and relaxed. She was proud of my accomplishments but has always wanted me to focus on the quality of my life.

As an adult,  I believe I inherited my core strengths I learned from my Mom.  My Mom is loving and caring but also the strongest person in my life.  She set me up for a long career working with and for strong and amazing women.  If my Mom wanted something for the house, she worked to get it.  If there was a problem in the family, she would find a way to help and resolve the issue.  Whether it was my sister's accident in Italy, my Grandmother needing to be moved to Savannah, caring for my Grandpa and Grandmother, or any other issue with my Dad and us, my mother never complained or seemed frustrated by the challenge. She just did what needed to be done and moved forward. 

As I got older, we became both mother and son and great friends, travel companions, and shopping companions.  We had some great fun together, whether walking through a rainforest in Puerto Rico, shopping for furniture in Fort Lauderdale, or enjoying New Your.

 Some other memories of my Mom:

  • Going to the circus at Callaway Gardens with her, Aunt Theresa, and Uncle Kenny.
  • She put together a great care package as I moved into my first apartment in Jacksonville.  It included towels, sheets, glasses, and other things I needed.  It made starting out much easier, and I felt pretty lucky to have her be so thoughtful. 
  • Her "surprise" birthday party in New Jersey with family.  Going to Soho in NYC for lunch, running through the Chelsea Market, finding the best foods and more for her party... and watching her cringe in and out of yellow cabs, but she was a trooper, and we were able to have a great party that weekend.
  • Vacationing in Laguna Beach, CA, going to the San Diego Zoo, and eating a salad with rare Ahi Tuna made her quite happy.  We also went to see my Aunt and cousin, visited muscle beach, and more.  This was right after 9/11 would have been easy to stay home, but not my Mom!
  • Going to Puerto Rico on an IBM award trip, eating chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne together, and watching the ocean go by.  Then my brother's twins were born while we were in Puerto Rico, and my Mom stayed in Atlanta to be with them after the trip and made sure Delta got her luggage off the plane in Atlanta and did not send it to Savannah.
  • Shopping for furniture in Fort Lauderdale when I moved down.  Shopping for furnishings in Atlanta.  Shopping in New York, New Jersey... and just shopping was always an adventure.
  • We went to Broadway shows in New York, including Beauty and the Beast, Ragtime, Golda’s Balcony with Mom and Dad, and Joan Rivers in West Palm Beach. 

Oh, and maybe the most enlightening about my Mom, she went with me to my first IBM holiday party in New York.  I was worried as everyone was either partnered or married and would feel out of place alone at my first-holiday party in New York.  She flew up to NY and was the hit of the party.  People, to this day, ask me how my Mom is doing, as she leaves such a strong and popular impression on others as she does on me.

So, how lucky I am to have her as my Mom!  She is a great Mom but continues to be my best friend, as well as a model for how to be a good spouse and a model of strength that I have wanted to emulate since my memories began.


I celebrate her and wish her much love and a very happy and joyous Mother's Day!





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