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| Amma |
Amma means mother, in my first language, Sinhala. Today would have been my mother's birthday. If she had lived, she would have been 99! She died when she was 85.
I don't know when the photograph, above, was taken. Obviously, when she was still a young woman. Probably in her late 20s or early 30s. She had gone to a photographer's studio to have her photograph taken. Unbeknownst to her, the photographer had enlarged one of the photographs and put it in the window of the studio as an advertisement of his work! One of my mother's friends had seen it and told her about it and mother went to the studio and demanded her photograph back, since the photographer hadn't asked her permission to display it!
It is in memory of her birthday that I host the October prayer gathering.
But, today, friend M and I had a cup of tea in her honor, in the evening. M was the last person she saw before she died. He had come to tend to the garden and had checked in with her and made her breakfast before he went to plant the green beans I had asked him to plant. Mother had gone to the sliding glass door and asked him how it was going and he had given her a thumbs up. She had gone back to her chair, in the living room, and a few minutes later, M's aunt Katy, who was my neighbor, had come by to check on her and found her already dead. My mother would have approved of us having a cup of tea to celebrate her birthday. She loved her tea.
I understand why the photographer used a picture of your mother for advertisement. She was a beautiful woman. Happy Birthday to her.
ReplyDeleteThank you. :)
DeleteYour mom was beautiful. No wonder the photographer had used a photo of her as an advertisement.
ReplyDeleteFrom what you have written about her, I think that not only she was beautiful, but a very strong, courageous woman. ❤️
Thank you, Nil. Yes, she was all that, and more. :)
DeleteWhat a beautiful woman your mother was.
ReplyDeleteI think it's lovely that you and M shared time together in remembrance of your mother.
Losing her so suddenly must have been so hard for you and your daughter.
Thank you. She had been ill for awhile - she fell and broke her hip in 2000 and needed hip replacement surgery; she had a hard time recovering from the surgery - she had to be intubated and was in ICU for several days. She was just recovering from her surgery when she had a heart attack and stroke; she had to have a pace maker put in and she recovered from the stroke, but, it affected her language processing abilities and there were a series of falls and smaller strokes. She also developed early stages of dementia. There was a gradual decline in her health over the next 6 years, before she died. But, even so, her death was sudden, when it happened. She left a big void in my life and my daughter's too.
DeleteSuch a beautiful woman, and I think from the glimpses I have seen, that her daughter and granddaughter take after her!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the lovely photo.
Thank you, Bushlady. My daughter is very much like her, not only in looks, but personality, too. As for me, a repairperson came to my house, one time, to attend to something, saw another picture of my mother I have on the mantel and asked me who that beautiful woman was; I said it was my mother. Then, he looked at me and asked, "What happened to you?" :D
DeleteOh wow, she was beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Akasha. :)
DeleteYour mother was a very beautiful lady. It must have been a shock to lose her so suddenly. X
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jules. Yes, she was in declining health, but the end came very suddenly.
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