Looking Back, Week 32 in the Time of Transition

I had some ideas about what I’d be addressing for this blog post, but when I looked at my calendar, I saw that it’s been four years since my mother died. We had a complicated relationship. Yet, in the last year of her life as her health declined, we found common ground with a deep and enduring love. A time I will always treasure. Most people don’t get that opportunity. Understanding that death is inevitable, her dying days were filled with peace and love.

My mother, Arlene, is on the left. I’m on the right. Both photos taken by her father, Samuel Goldman

In the ensuing years I have come to appreciate the many things I learned from her. Good manners matter. Respect privacy, one’s own and others’ need for discretion. Appreciating those who share kindness in the world. A love of tennis and figure skating. A love of salads. And an understating that we do not really know what others are going through, so perhaps we can give them the benefit of the doubt.

In the song from Mack & Mable, time heals everything. I am grateful for all I learned in that relationship, and how it translates time and again in my life…