Remembering Mothers

With Mother’s Day coming up tomorrow, everyone seems to be scurrying to get their gifting plans in place, and make last minute arrangements to be there on that special day.

In a picture-perfect world—or, maybe, in the make-believe world of advertising—that may seem like a happy scenario. However, I have to keep in mind that, as I find it myself, for others, this is not a happy occasion. Some, of course, only see it as a yearly reminder of how they are—as blogger Laura Cosgrove Lorenzana puts it—the last leaf on their branch. Others—and I now fall into this category—can only give the gift of passing along remembrances, for their years of bestowing tangible gifts to their own moms is now past them.

Leafing through the pages left behind by my husband’s grandmother, Agnes Tully Stevens, I found some of those tangible items tucked away. Evidently, Agnes cherished the cards given to her for Mother’s Day, and added them to her stash of keepsakes and letters.

Within that holiday bundle were some other cards that may have been passed along by her own mother. One of those items didn’t seem to fit this grouping, though. It was an older card, barely three inches by four inches. It was odd in that the artwork was printed on a translucent material like a plastic. Also unusual was the artwork and written sentiment—more fitting for a funeral keepsake than a Mother’s Day card.

Perhaps this was a token that Agnes kept to remember her own mother. Not something upon which one could affix a signature—the material was too slick—it leaves us no clue as to what its original purpose was. Found among her Mother’s Day cards, though, gives a hint as to how she saw the card’s simple message:

Remember me near her!