Happy Birthday Mom

Today would have been my mother's 94th birthday. Though I too often mocked her accent and her sometimes imperious manners, with the underlying racism and classicism she imbibed as a girl growing up in a colonial state (South Africa under apartheid), I now salute her ability to behave civilly under difficult circumstances, to show compassion and empathy for others when she was shown little to none herself. She taught me correct use of language, my bread and butter, manners, kindness, and respect for others. She bore up under the impossible conditions living with my mentally ill father presented her with for many years by preserving a golden image of her childhood happiness and her beautiful home across the ocean. I hope she forgave me for making fun of her and realized that beneath it all, I loved her very much.