I’m off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz…

I am going South to be with my mother for her 85th Birthday! 

My mother, as all mothers are, is a very special person.  I wouldn’t have thought that whenever she was chasing me and my sisters with a broom in her hands and my grandmother will be asking “who is she killing today?”

Her life is full of drama and traumas.  Just like yours and mine.  So it makes her a normal inhabitant of planet Earth.  I inherited from her the spirit of giving.  You couldn’t pay her a compliment on anything because before you knew it, there she was giving it to you.  She did her good deeds without any advertising and my father always had an open account at the hardware store and the “mercaditos” (small grocery stores) because she was always fixing someone’s house and sending bags full of groceries to a particular person or family.

We always had eggs and chickens to eat, because that’s how the people from the country will come to visit her and try to return favors she would have done for them some time ago.  One of them, I remember vividly, wanted to give me a chicken because I was the oldest daughter and visiting home (I used to live in the Virgin Islands at that time) and she wanted to honor me.  I looked at mama with horror  painted on my face, and she took the chicken herself so the lady would not feel bad.  I just smiled and gave the lady a big hug.

Every Saturday there will be a line of people waiting for my mother to give them food and some money.  “Los limosneros” (beggars), as they were known, were some of my mother’s favorite people.  She was not a socialite, because she came from a very humble background, and kept to herself, but her heart was and still is very giving.

I know all of us, or most of us, have, had or will have issues with our mothers, but as a mother that I am now, I totally understand why. 

My daughter gave me a sweatshirt for Christmas when she was around seven or eight and she painted the phrase “I am the Mom, that’s why” on the shirt.  I still have it and will treasure it forever.

I honor my “mama” and all mothers,  because we have been given this unique opportunity to know what real pain and real love is.

Mama, Feliz Cumpleanos, Happy Birthday and Bon Anniversaire.  Te quiero mucho.  I love you very much and thank you for being my mama.

Your Happy Contessa

P.S.  Due to the fact that there is no cable or internet connection where I am going, I will be absent for a few days.  I should return early next week.  Thank You!