What my Mother Gave Me

mother.home.love

 

My Mother is a nuts and bolts kind of woman. Practical with no frills. Dust rag in one hand, and a plate of cookies in the other. Being busy is her best friend. The words "sit down" do not relate to her. If ever you give my Mother a compliment she will brush it aside, saying, "Oh gee!" then she will make a clicking sound with her tongue. She is that predictable, and never late.

My Mother is a do-er, with a generous heart. 

 

mother.home.love

(My son Sacha when he was two years old.)

My Mother has given me life twice. Once at my birth, and then again after Sacha's birth.

 

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A few weeks after Sacha was born my Mom sensed something was wrong with me. She said she thought my stomach should be going down, she said she knew I had lost weight, but that my stomach looked like I was still pregnant.

I told her that I felt great, that after three weeks I didn't expect to have a flat stomach, and that if I weren't well, if something were wrong with me certainly Sacha wouldn't be doing well breast feeding.

I wasn't worried and brushed her concern away.

 

CoreyAmaro_Mendocino_Victoria_013

Still she persisted.

After days of discussing the way I looked, my Mom said she would not return home (California,) until I went to see a Doctor. I told her I didn't mind if she stayed in France with me forever. She laughed, and then nearly bopped me over the head with a wooden spoon.

She has a way of getting her point across.

That is how I found out I had ovarian cancer. It is a silent killer. My Mother's intuition saved me.

 

mother.home.love

A Mother's love, is that she can feel her children from the inside out.

My Mother is the strongest woman I know.

She has given me the gift of life twice. Her love has been my guiding light, and without it I would be lost.

 

mother.home.love

Happy Mother's Day!

Tell me about your Mother?



Comments

28 responses to “What my Mother Gave Me”

  1. My Mom was pure goodness. She loved children, not just her own children, all children. She couldn’t finish school because of the war and then she got married very young, but she never stopped reading. She loved to sing. She made the best cookies and soups and anything that she cooked.
    One of my memories of her is on a summer afternoon, she is rolling the dough with a wooden rolling pin on a wooden pastry board. From time to time she reaches to a bag of flower, takes a handful and sprinkles a white cloud of powder over the pastry board and the dough circle that she’s been rolling flat. She is making pasta. When a circle is big and flat enough, she puts it on clean, white, starched sheet on a bed and lets it dry. After a few minutes, there are a lot of circles on the sheet. Once the pasta circles are dry, she rolls each one into a tube and begins to cut the dough into thin slices, making long pasta. I am sitting on top of the kitchen cupboard by the window, watching her quick, sure movements in amazement that she does not cut her fingers.

  2. Happy Mother’s Day Corey.
    Loved this post!

  3. Becky F

    Hi Corey,
    My mother is an incredibly strong woman, the strong and silent type. Very unassuming, never wanting any praise bestowed upon her. See faced cancer (24 years ago) with such courage and strength that my cousin said she had no idea the hell my mother went through until she herself under went chemo treatments.
    My mother has always given generously of herself to everyone. Never expecting anything in return. She opens her home to everyone and everyone knows they can land there. She has an unfaltering faith in God. It sustains her. She loves her family and I love her. If I could be half the woman she is I would be so blessed.
    Happy Mother’s Day Corey! Becky

  4. C, thank you for this post – it’s pretty incredible that on top of the greastest gift of children, mothers are graced with wisdom, intuition, and a powerful love. Have a wonderful Mother’s Day. xo

  5. Happy Mother’s Day, Corey!!! I know your mom is thankful to have such a loving and grateful daughter!

  6. I have two Mom’s. The one who gave me life, and the one who raised me. I knew them both. One gave me her genes, the love of sewing, art, nursing as a profession, artistic ability. The other one taught me how to be a lady, how to be kind and considerate, how to walk, eat, clean, and showed me how to live with unbearable pain, her’s and years later, mine.
    I loved them both in different ways. But the Mother who raised me, she is my Mom.

  7. Corey, you are fortunate that your mother was knowledgeable enough about postpartum health indications that she could recognize something was amiss with you following Sacha’s birth, that she insisted you seek prompt medical attention, and then that the excellent medical treatment you needed was available to you.
    Late just last night, I finally located the death and baptismal records — scans from the original log books, posted online by the Azores government — of my paternal Grandma’s own grandmother, on the west coast of the island of Flores in the Azores. Floripez [sic] lived to be 44, and her daughter (= my great-grandmother) was just shy of her 8th birthday when her mother died. While slogging through page after page of those mid-19th century “Óbitos” (death records), I was struck by the high incidence of child mortality, and how few people managed to live to what we now routinely consider early old age. There would not have been much in the way of medical care in the Azores back then, least of all in my ancestors’ remote location — plus poverty and primitive transportation would have made what little there was all but inaccessible to most people even on the larger islands (let alone in a remote location like Flores). The Óbitos don’t list cause of death, so we’ll likely never know what killed Floripez. (FWIW, her daughter who was my great-grandmother immigrated to northern California as a young wife and mother, and lived to the ripe old age of 89, so there must’ve been some good genes in the family!).

  8. TRULY YOU ARE A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK!!Thank you for everything— in who you are, what you do for us your readers and ALL that you share with us in this special space!

  9. Marie Amaro

    My mom likes Diet Pepsi.

  10. Oh, my word, what a blessing your mother is! I’m glad she was persistent, and that you finally listened. I love “having you in my life!”

  11. My mother is a soft and likable woman with a hearty laugh. She is very religious and heavily involved in her church. Mothers a wonder and a gift, so alike in some ways, yet so different from one another.

  12. Corey, that was a beautiful story! You’re so lucky your Mom is still with you! Thank you for sharing!

  13. WOW–THAT GAVE ME “GOOSBUMPS”. I’M SO GLAD YOUR MOM HAD THE WISDOM TO PERSUADE YOU TO CALL FOR A DR. APPT…

  14. Beautiful post. It brought tears to my eyes. I had been curious how your ovarian cancer was found as like you said it is the silent killer.
    Amazing story, amazing mom, and so glad you got the treatment to carry you this far.
    Wishing you and your family good health.
    I am lucky to have a 93 year old mom with a twinkle in her eye and lilt in her step.

  15. My mom is a beautiful woman. When I was a kid I thought she was most beautiful woman I’ve ever seenl. I was so happy when she’d come to school with me because I wanted all the other kids to see how beautiful she was. My mother was blessed with a double whammie, beautiful on the inside and out. I love her more than words can say!

  16. BTW, Happy Mother’s Day!!!

  17. I’m so glad that your mom saved you. Moms usually know when something isn’t quite right and I’m glad that you heeded her concern.

  18. Oh Corey…this brought tears to my eyes. Mamas know best, don’t they??? What a blessing she was and is to you! My mama has always been the most supportive cheerleader to me…whatever I choose to undertake, she is there telling me what a great idea it is and is cheering me on! Always thoughtful, always caring but most of all so very supportive…xxoo

  19. you have an amazing Mom and thank God she persisted with you.
    My Mom was a beautiful lady whom I miss very much. She always loved children and was a mother to the neighbourhood children. I remember coming home and finding Mom rocking a child in the kitchen wiping a tear away….he was upset that he wasn’t the baby anymore…but after some consoling from my Mom and a few cookies he was fine.
    There is no one like your Mom …cherish yours as there is no one who will ever love you like your Mom
    Happy Mother’s Day everyone

  20. Brother Mathew

    Likes?

  21. suzymeek@hotmail.co.uk

    Oh Corey,Again not a dry eye in the house,how brave of you to tell this story,I am so happy that you are well,xx

  22. I have been touched by so many of your blog posts, but this one is my favorite. Thank you!

  23. Brenda L. from TN.

    Happy Mother’s Day to you all as well….
    Another beautiful post, Corey!
    My Mom was the smartest person I ever knew. She was the type of person who could work in a huge company in the mail room and rise to become President and Chairman of the Board of the same company.
    She was a single mom who made ALL of my clothes and EVERY Prom dress I ever had (MANY colors,lengths and LOTS of compliments) except for one which was a gift from my uncle and aunt who sent me to an all girls private school. Mother even made my uniforms. She could knit…made one sweater for me with my name across chest and when a man said “Hi, Brenda” I couldn’t figure out how he knew my name til I looked down and remembered how he knew. She could quilt and did many pillows and framed pictures in needlepoint plus my 6 dining room chairs. All while running and owning 2 businnesses. She carried 2 pocketbooks/bags daily…one for normal womans “stuff” and the other for her “Finances”…she could tell you to the penny what was in her checking and savings accounts…AND how much Uncle Sam owed HER at tax time.
    But she couldn’t cook very well and operating a washing machine was a total mystery to her. I had to show her how to do that…things like that were just “TOO EASY” and she couldn’t figure out why. She simply had a head for business and not much else. But she was my ROCK when it came to my 2 boys…always there to help in EVERY WAY possible. I miss her terribly.

  24. Thank you for that wonderful, inspiring story. It is the work you have both done that has forged the bond that makes knowing so sure. You both have the open hearts that allow true wisdom to flow.

  25. That your mother could sense that you were not well is simply amazing! What a very special woman!

  26. You have the ability to recognize and then to share.

  27. My Mom developed breast cancer at the young age of 27… 1/2 way through her radiation therapy (this was in the 1940’s) she discovered she was pregnant. Ignoring all medical advice to terminate the pregnancy, she delivered a healthy baby girl – me – 9 months later. Mom survived ovarian cancer she she was in her 40’s – unfortunately later descending into the black hole of Alzheimers disease in her late 60’s. Mom passed away a couple of years ago at 87… brave, strong… well-loved. I miss her terribly. xo Deb

  28. WOW what a story. Thank heaven for your Mom!!!! Funny how, as we age, parents become the wisest people we know. Never underestimate them! I’m so happy she was so persistent!!

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