She Was... My Mom
By Manfred Reysser
Women’s History Month – where to start, what to write, and about whom? Many come to mind, in politics Michelle Obama, Margaret Thatcher from the United Kingdom, Angela Merkel from Germany; in science Marie Curie from Poland; in the civil rights movement Rosa Parks; and in business and entertainment, Oprah Winfrey, just to name a few.
Many times, though, we don’t have to go far to find amazing, courageous and determined women. This article is about one of them and it starts back in the middle of last century in post-war Europe.
The woman I am referring to had just lost her husband to a heart attack after not even three years of marriage and she was alone with a 9-month old baby. Her immediate family had all perished in World War II and her remaining family lived nowhere near her. The pension she received was barely enough to live and she decided to take on small, additional jobs. She didn’t have the luxury to be picky and some jobs – like where she cut large bales of fabric into smaller pieces -- caused her tendons to become inflamed. It was painful, but she continued. A mother’s determination…
Most of all, she never complained to her young son, who was now in elementary school. In fact, she never mentioned anything about her financial situation, about the strain of not having the resources she would have liked to have. She just made it work. An amazing mother…
She also found a more regular job, working several hours a week in a small flower shop. She asked her son to come in every day to help her with lifting the heavy crates of plants, pots, and so forth to stow them away for the evening, with which he complied – albeit begrudgingly. Teenagers…
After a few years in school, she registered her son to participate in the high school entrance exam in a nearby town. Her son had no idea what this meant for him, all he knew was that he didn’t see his classmates any longer. A mother’s vision…
After a few years in high school, his Math and Physics teacher recommended to move her son to a lower level school due to his bad grades in both these subjects. She refused and her son was held back and had to repeat that entire school year. By the way, after graduating from high school, he went to study Physics at university and graduated with a Masters in Physics. A mother’s courage…
Then came a time we all have to face, but don’t really want to. She was regressing and after barely surviving a heart attack, she agreed to move to an assisted living facility. Her son had to make more and more decisions for her but that was fine with her: “Well, if my son picked that curtain color, then that is just fine.” Her life lasted 87 years and 9 days.
There are so many more stories or events which would take many more pages to fill and this short essay comes nowhere near doing her justice. Yet, you may wonder, how I know all this.
She was … my mom.
