Memories are made of this

 My daughter just posted this to her cousin as they were talking about my mom.  I remember just bits, but of her being very warm, smiling, and affectionate. She would be proud to call you her Granddaughter, I'm sure.

I lost my mom early; she was in her 50s and I was in my mid 30’s when she died of cancer. I am glad that my daughter has some memories of her. My mom was a remarkable woman, she was feisty, determined, loving and kind. Her mom left when she was young and she was tasked with raising her younger brother and sister, which she did. She lived in as small town in Saskatchewan in the 30’s and 40’s that was almost all Romanian. This was the language of the community, so she grew up with English as a second language. When she went to high school, people made fun of her accent. Within three years she had lost her accent and when we were growing up, we never knew that she spoke another language.

She was elected to the School Board for two terms and was active in the community in which grew up. She did not talk about her early years very much that I recall. When she died, I and my brothers went through her papers and discovered that she had kept a diary of her early life. It took a while, but I eventually read her words.

Her words allowed me to get to know her better and could understand some of the things that I did not understand as a youngster. Because she wrote her diary and I got the chance to read it, I started writing this blog for my grandson. One day my hope is that he will read it and it will give him some understanding of what my world is like, what I find interesting, my sense of humour and my love for him and my family. I hope my niece gets to read my mom’s diary so that she can have a better understanding of her.