It is ten years ago today, that my mother died.
Yesterday was the Schlegel family gathering.
Family was so important to my mother.
Ten Years Ago at the family gathering my mother
said, " I don't know if I will be here next year."
Two days later she was dead.
She left me with a rich heritage,
a heritage that I saw in many of the relatives
who were gathered yesterday.
She taught me if I didn't have something nice to say to not say anything
neither of us were able to hold to that at all times.
She taught me humility, and the recognition that all people are of worth in the
world, a world that was changing rapidly and filled with changes she did not
always understand or support.
I learned from her that mother's cannot always protect their children, and that it is important to
acknowledge that.
I remember the first time she met the first grandson I came to love, she said
" Oh, his skin is so black." I did not understand why this was the first thing she said about this beautiful boy, until she told me the story of seeing her first black person in Detroit,
on a trip with her brother Roy. She said she was sixteen.
I learned something about her and the rapidly changing world she lived in,
Oh, how she loved Isaac and his mother and their family.
She taught me to love my neighbour as myself, and she was very good at loving her neighbour.
By the time of her death her family ( of love) included people who had come
to Canada as refugees from Russia and Germany (people of her heritage) and people from Vietnam, Central America, and Kenya. Those are the ones I knew of.
and oh how my mother knew worry...we did not talk about that yesterday either.
She worried and she prayed...
she is with me these days as racism seems to be growing and I wonder about the safety of children, especially in Canada and the US who do not share my skin colour.
she is with me as I/we welcome people from Syria.
she is with me as my grandchildren grow in size and number
she will be with us as Lora is ordained, and oh how she will celebrate
she is with me in my labyrinth garden, my rose bed, my vegetable garden
she is with me as I travel, as I learn, as I give, as I take, as I laugh, as I grieve...
she is with me as I live with all the attributes of being a descendent of
Barbara ( Sommers) and Aaron Schlegel.
gkn Oct. 30/2017
Yesterday was the Schlegel family gathering.
Family was so important to my mother.
Ten Years Ago at the family gathering my mother
said, " I don't know if I will be here next year."
Two days later she was dead.
She left me with a rich heritage,
a heritage that I saw in many of the relatives
who were gathered yesterday.
She taught me if I didn't have something nice to say to not say anything
neither of us were able to hold to that at all times.
She taught me humility, and the recognition that all people are of worth in the
world, a world that was changing rapidly and filled with changes she did not
always understand or support.
I learned from her that mother's cannot always protect their children, and that it is important to
acknowledge that.
I remember the first time she met the first grandson I came to love, she said
" Oh, his skin is so black." I did not understand why this was the first thing she said about this beautiful boy, until she told me the story of seeing her first black person in Detroit,
on a trip with her brother Roy. She said she was sixteen.
I learned something about her and the rapidly changing world she lived in,
Oh, how she loved Isaac and his mother and their family.
She taught me to love my neighbour as myself, and she was very good at loving her neighbour.
By the time of her death her family ( of love) included people who had come
to Canada as refugees from Russia and Germany (people of her heritage) and people from Vietnam, Central America, and Kenya. Those are the ones I knew of.
and oh how my mother knew worry...we did not talk about that yesterday either.
She worried and she prayed...
she is with me these days as racism seems to be growing and I wonder about the safety of children, especially in Canada and the US who do not share my skin colour.
she is with me as I/we welcome people from Syria.
she is with me as my grandchildren grow in size and number
she will be with us as Lora is ordained, and oh how she will celebrate
she is with me in my labyrinth garden, my rose bed, my vegetable garden
she is with me as I travel, as I learn, as I give, as I take, as I laugh, as I grieve...
she is with me as I live with all the attributes of being a descendent of
Barbara ( Sommers) and Aaron Schlegel.
gkn Oct. 30/2017
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