MOTHER'S DAY MEMORIES @kathleenlawless

Mother’s Day has always been a bitter-sweet celebration for me.  Despite the fact that I have three wonderful (now adult) children who rocked my world and enhanced my life from the day they were born, a few tears are always shed as I think about my own mother. 

I lost her when I was in my teens, so Mother’s Day has always encompassed a visit to the burial park.  And a lot of unanswered questions. Has she forgiven me those ‘terrible teen’ years?  Would we have been friends as adults?   Would we have had mother-daughter spa days, luncheons, and out-of-town shopping trips the way I do with my daughter?   

Every ‘big’ moment in a girl’s life, graduation, my wedding, the birth of my children, the publication of my first book, even my divorce, were always missing something.  (Read someone)

From an early age, my children were aware of this loss and always worked hard to make Mother’s Day full of special moments.  I have been spoiled with too many wonderful memories to count, but one of the most memorable is the year they surprised me with a rose garden. 

I was working out of town and got home Sunday late afternoon to find they had dug up a patch of weeds in the front garden and planted three rose bushes.  The garden had a Mom’s Rose Garden homemade sign.  Each plant was signed with the title of one of my published books.  Callie’s Honor, Anora’s Pride and Grace’s Folly.  The waterworks flowed that day like never before.  Happy tears.   

Years later, they showed up at my downsized beach-side cottage on Mother’s Day and announced they were going to the beach.  They arrived back laden with armloads of driftwood and promptly built me the driftwood garden bench I had been yearning for. 

Losing my mother at any early age, I learned that life offers up no guarantees.  It’s up to me to make every moment count.  Celebrate well and often.  Make memories.  Learn from my mistakes.  And most important, tell my loved ones I love them every single day because it might be my last chance to say it.

My heroine, Rachel, in FABULOUS AT FIFTY, is a mother, a daughter, a sister and a best friend, who finds her life turned upside down.  I throw everything her way.  Suddenly single and unemployed, she is forced to reinvent herself at the same time her daughter comes into her own and chooses an unorthodox path to motherhood, making 

Rachel a grandmother. Meanwhile, her sister’s ‘perfect life’ starts to crumble and her relationship with her own mother takes a twist.  Four generations of women!  Did I ever have fun!   

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And have a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Kathleen