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For Mother's Day: A Daughter's Memory
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More from Conejo ValleyAs Mother's Day approaches, I'm thinking of my mother's memory. She was beautiful; in fact people often mistook her for Norma Shearer, the reigning queen at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1930s. She'd be stopped frequently and asked for "Norma's" autograph. She minimized this attention graciously without fanfare.
I asked her once if she wasn't thrilled to be considered another Norma Shearer. She answered no. By example she taught that it is better to be a first rate you rather than a second rate somebody else. She lived these words by Mary Baker Eddy: "The recipe for beauty is to have less illusion and more Soul...." To her this meant understanding God as Mother and embracing Her spiritual qualities of humility, purity, and contentment.
This sage guidance served me well, when as a teenager, I wanted to be Audrey Hepburn. But I wasn't tall and willowy. Neither was I graced with a long swan's neck, luminous brown eyes, nor lustrous dark hair. That word "illusion" became instantly clear. Choosing a more realistic goal, I found satisfaction in developing my own identity.
"...forsake not the law of thy mother: For [it] shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head..." (Proverbs 1:8,9). Wise words. Thank you, Mother.
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