Women who run with spaghetti…and chicken pot pie.

I'd love to hear your mother stories.

For so long I thought it was inherently "weird" or shameful to have so many women be my mother. As if it was my fault. At 65 now, I understand more. Life is complicated. I've had four mothers, or caregivers, in my growing up family alone, and this year discovered more - Nonna’s - on the Italian side of my biological father.

I must also thank many other "mentor mothers" along the way. Some accepted the assignment, and others shied away. But I am so grateful to all, for their guidance!

So, you dear readers ~ have you also had more than one mother. Do I see some hands? 

The truth is families have always been in transition. What is your favorite “mother novel?”

Wild, From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail. Cheryl Strayed.

The Poisonwood Bible. Barbara Kingsolver.

Leaving Time. Jodi Picoult.

These lady writers could be why I grew to love myths of epic proportion, like Homer.

And tales, like Grimms Fairy Tales and Hans Christian Anderson.

Though I note these are written by men.

Women Who Run with the Wolves. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

I think I would have to say that the mothers who run with spaghetti would be a good way to sum it up. They maybe didn’t revere the spiritual sacredness of the kitchen, they were too dang busy. But they passed that along to me, and hopefully, I can pass that along to my little granddaughter, Isabel.  

So tell me, who do you count as your mother? Your birth mother? Maybe it's your mother-in-law? Step-mother? Adoptive mother. Mother figure. And Grandmother. Who have I missed?

Happy Mother's Day!

Nana with my brother, Jeremy, one Christmas.

Nana smoothing my hair on June 24th, 1978.

Mom and Nana with me on out front porch. High school graduation.

One of my Mom’s (Aileen’s) favorite quotes.

Another quote..from Aileen. She spent a lot of her later years reading and writing.

Aileen, as she graduated from high school.

My stepmother, Jackie, who lives in Narvon, Pennsylvania.

My biological Mom, Gayle, when she graduated from high school.