This is my mom, affectionately known as Maggie . . .
I love, love, love this picture. What you don't see is her stunning auburn red hair. I don't know, besides the fact I think it's because she's so naturally beautiful, I think it reflects her hip, cool quality. I have many memories of my mom, not the least of which was her keen interest in holistic life. She was into whole foods, holistic medicine and yoga, long before its trendy stage. I grew up on the West coast of Vancouver Island, in the village of Gold River. One of my favorite memories is the trip into the health food store any time we took the drive into Campbell River. Located within the store was a cafe with some of the best whole grain cookies ever! My mom and dad loved to go for drives and they seemed to discover some of the coolest places to eat -- the "hippy" restaurants as my dad used to call them. This was after all the late 1960's!
Her fondness and commitment to the holistic, natural lifestyle stayed with her and graduated into some attempts at "healing" concoctions and other health and beauty products. It wasn't entirely unusual to see her face covered in something or other made up of a little of this and a little of that. Who needed moisturizing face creams when you had mayonnaise! On one occasion, after a school outdoor education field trip, my other classmates and I had a case of wind burn on our faces. While the other mom's headed out to the local drugstore for a soothing remedy, mine headed off to the kitchen apothecary where I found her crushing Vitamin C tablets to be blended with plain yogurt.
I don't recall it being so soothing . . . I think I quickly declared my displeasure with something like "get it off, it burns, it burns!".
But, needless to say, I survived this and many other experiments and in fact found myself equally drawn to the qualities and sustainability of natural health and healing that she so generously shared with her family.
"Maggie" experienced many things in her life, many joys and many sorrows. Her own mother died when she was just 15, the death of a son, a husband, her father and a courageous battle with cancer were challenges many of us can only imagine bearing. But, like many mom's, despite these painful experiences, she continued to give more than she took, a quality I am mindful of every day.
Whatever the memories, they are precious . . . what are yours?
To mom's, moms-to-be, mom's in kind . . .
Happy Mother's Day!
Her fondness and commitment to the holistic, natural lifestyle stayed with her and graduated into some attempts at "healing" concoctions and other health and beauty products. It wasn't entirely unusual to see her face covered in something or other made up of a little of this and a little of that. Who needed moisturizing face creams when you had mayonnaise! On one occasion, after a school outdoor education field trip, my other classmates and I had a case of wind burn on our faces. While the other mom's headed out to the local drugstore for a soothing remedy, mine headed off to the kitchen apothecary where I found her crushing Vitamin C tablets to be blended with plain yogurt.
I don't recall it being so soothing . . . I think I quickly declared my displeasure with something like "get it off, it burns, it burns!".
But, needless to say, I survived this and many other experiments and in fact found myself equally drawn to the qualities and sustainability of natural health and healing that she so generously shared with her family.
"Maggie" experienced many things in her life, many joys and many sorrows. Her own mother died when she was just 15, the death of a son, a husband, her father and a courageous battle with cancer were challenges many of us can only imagine bearing. But, like many mom's, despite these painful experiences, she continued to give more than she took, a quality I am mindful of every day.
Whatever the memories, they are precious . . . what are yours?
To mom's, moms-to-be, mom's in kind . . .
Happy Mother's Day!
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