Becoming Gramma Beth.....

My mom died in 2010....she lived a full and meaningful life for 89 years....and certainly that's something to celebrate. She and I had our "moments" but she was ever loving, supportive and kind....and as I age I realize more and more just how much she helped to shape the woman I've become. (Now the older woman I've become!) And I also realize that many of the phrases she used now come out of my mouth, many of the traits she had are now mine and some of her face stares back at me when I look in a mirror.

There was one little thing (or probably many because we were mother-daughter) that used to bug me no end. She would clip magazine and newspaper articles and send them to me. No specific topics....things she thought would interest me, advice type articles, informational essays. We lived far away from her home in Park Ridge so these missives would arrive via the US Postal Service. Usually I would open the envelope (this was way before email) and read her personal letter....but toss the helpful columns in the trash. Unread. As an adult I felt I did not need this kind of "help" or "advice" and frankly often resented the "interference".

And then just today I realized I'm once again becoming my mother. I have been clipping magazine and newspaper articles and bringing them to my daughter. She's a talented and capable wife/mother/artist living in West Bend so these important papers usually get delivered in person.  I wonder what she does with them....

I'm even guilty of forwarding on-line informational materials. So my daughter gets the "benefit" new kinds of informational help from her mother.

I'm becoming Gramma Beth.....I bet somewhere she is smiling.